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THE ROD THAT BUDDED 




REV, K.OHEK I J. MILLKR, 1>.I>. 



The 




Rod That Budded 




BY 

ROBERT J. MILLER, D.D. 




" Behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was 
budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and 
yielded almonds."— Numbers 17:8. 


; 


ATV/TFRTP AM TR APT ^OPTFTV 

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THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 



Two Copies Received 



AUG 31 U 

I Copyright Entry 
CLASSJ Q, XXc. No 
COPY B. 



Copyright, 1903, 
By American Tract Society. 



TITLES OF CHAPTERS 

PAGE 

I. The Rod That Budded i 

II. The Forbidden Tree . . . . . .12 

III. The Cherubim-guarded Tree .... 22 

IV. The Bush That Burned 34 

V. Burning, but not Consumed 45 

VI. Barriers Burned Away 55 

VII. The Tree of Wisdom . . . . . .64 

VIII. The River and the Tree . . . . .73 

IX. The Tree Yielding Fruit after its Kind . . 84 

X. The Protecting Shadow 93 

XL Fruit from the Tree of Life .... 107 

XII. Fruit That Satisfies 115 

XIII. The Tree of Healing . . . . .125 

XIV. Flowers for Adornment 139 

XV. Leaves for the Healing of the Nations . . 148 

XVI. Passing Fruit to Others 158 

XVII. The Planting of the Lord 171 

XVIIL The Tree in the Paradise of God . • .185 

XIX. The Plant of Renown 197 



HEALING LEAVES 



9 I "HE tree of life forever blooms, 

In its fair leaves the nations find 
Their Lord his healing power resumes, 

Restoring eyesight to the blind, 
New strength and buoyant health he gives, 
The soul long dead in Jesus lives. 

They who long time had heard of him, 
But could not see him, since their eyes 

Were covered with sin's darkened film, 
Can now look up: the great surprise 

Of clear, unclouded light doth bring 

The bloom of God's eternal spring. 

What tides of health shall now renew 
The broken, shattered hearts of men, 

How shall they cleave with purpose true 
To him who died and rose again; 

Revealing by death's awful strife 

The way to everlasting life. 

Christ came to seek the lost; his quest 
Its glorious purpose shall fulfill 

He came to give the weary rest, 

No power shall thwart his gracious will. 

His law of service, unrepealed, 

Remains till every soul is healed. 



viii The Rod That Budded 



Death came through the forbidden fruit, 

From Eden banished we return, 
Since Mercy doth our guilt transmute, 

And from our failure we may learn 
The lessons that Christ came to teach 
By placing heaven within our reach. 

O Tree of Life ! no death is found 
Beneath thy healing shelter. Soon 

Shall come from earth's remotest bound 
The hosts redeemed by love's rich boon, 

God gave through his beloved Son 

To make the scattered nations one. 

William Robinson. 



THE ROD THAT BUDDED 



N old writer pictured the apprehension with 



which the father of our race first witnessed 



the departure of the day. As the shadows 
deepened and earth took on her somber hue, amid 
the silence and solitude of the primeval world, the 
newly created observer would look on with mingled 
admiration, astonishment and awe. What if the 
beauties of earth are forever to disappear ? What if 
the gathering shadows are to deepen into eternal 
night? What if the solitude is to reign through 
endless years? What if life must be lived in un- 
broken darkness and desolation? But as he looks, 
new wonders rise to meet his adoring gaze. The 
glories of the terrestrial world give place to the 
grandeur of the celestial spheres. Star after star 
shines forth until the heavens are aflame with glory. 
The night reveals more than it conceals. It brings 
to light the handiwork of God which the star- 
gemmed firmament displays. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE ROD THAT BUDDED 




2 The Rod That Budded 



This marvel, which is repeated with every rota- 
tion of the earth, has many a counterpart in the his- 
tory of our race. Often the darkest hours of human 
disappointment and sorrow have brought to light 
the riches of divine mercy and love. Scarcely had 
the night which followed man's first disobedience 
settled down upon the soul of the transgressors, when 
its darkness was relieved by a star of hope — the 
promise that the spoiler of man's fair inheritance 
would be vanquished and his victims emancipated. 
The bow in the cloud became the sign and seal of the 
everlasting covenant at a time when it spanned the 
earth desolated by the overwhelming deluge. "When 
the tale of bricks was doubled, then Moses ap- 
peared." When the apostasy of Israel was the great- 
est, then came some of the most gracious deliver- 
ances. Out of the dark night of captivity shone 
many of the brightest stars of prophecy, foretelling 
that the world's redemption was drawing nigh. 
When the world had reached its darkest hour of 
moral degradation and despair, then appeared the 
Star of Bethlehem, guiding the way to the feet of 
the Child-King. 

One of the dark hours in Hebrew history was 
when mutiny rose in the camp against the appointed 
leaders of the host. God had unmistakably indicated 
who should take the command, and who should min- 
ister in holy things. What were all the mighty signs 
in Egypt, at the Red Sea and at Sinai, but credentials 
that he had appointed Moses as their leader and 
law-giver? His hand had placed the priestly vest- 



The Rod That Budded 



merits on Aaron and his sons, and fire from heaven 
had fallen upon their offerings. Yet there were re- 
bellious spirits in the camp who said, "Ye take too 
much upon you, ye sons of Levi/' and they talked of 
making themselves a captain and returning to Egypt. 
Then the Lord gave a new test by which it should be 
determined for all time to come which tribe should 
wear the priestly garments and should minister at 
the holy altar. For each tribe they were to take a 
rod and lay them up before the ark of the testimony. 
"And it shall come to pass that the man's rod, whom 
I shall choose, shall blossom ; and I will make to cease 
from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, 
whereby they murmur against you." "And Moses 
laid up the rods before the Lord in the tabernacle of 
witness. And it came to pass, that on the morrow, 
Moses went into the tabernacle of witness ; and, be- 
hold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was 
budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blos- 
soms, and yielded almonds." Life in its various 
forms and stages was the token by which God's 
choice of a priestly family was confirmed, and this 
was to be the sign through all the Aaronic age, for 
the rod that budded was laid up in the holy place as 
an enduring memorial of the divine choice and com- 
mission. 

There are many rival claimants for the love and 
loyalty of human hearts, many for whom the claim is 
made that they represent the supreme power and are 
able to direct into the supreme good. The myriads 
of heathen devotees make this claim for the represen- 



4 The Rod That Budded 



tatives of their various systems. The Moslem claims 
that there is but one God and Mahomet is his 
prophet. The followers of the Nazarene claim that 
he has received a commission from the Eternal 
Father which excludes the claims of all others who 
bid for the supreme allegiance of humanity. Near 
the headwaters of the Jordan a temple was erected 
to the Greek deity Pan, and to-day in one of the vo- 
tive niches cut out of the great rock is the inscription 
in the Greek tongue, "To the priest of Pan." This 
temple stood near where the w r aters gush from the 
base of Mt. Hermon with tremendous power, "a per- 
fect sanctuary of waters," a fit place for the erection 
of a temple to the powers of nature, if such a place is 
anywhere to be found. Near this temple another was 
erected by Philip Herod in honor of his friend and 
patron, Augustus Caesar, whose image was its central 
object. On one of the mountain spurs above these 
temples Jesus spent a night of prayer with three of 
his disciples, and as he prayed was transfigured be- 
fore them. Out of the cloud which overshadowed 
them came a voice, "This is my Beloved Son, in 
whom I am well pleased; hear him." "Hear him" 
— not Moses, the representative of law ; not Elijah, 
the representative of the spirit of prophecy ; not im- 
personal nature-powers, nor deified humanity; hear 
him by whom came truth and grace, who gave his 
life as a ransom for the world. 

This endowment with authority was accredited by 
the mighty works which he wrought — miracles of 
grace and mercy ; yet many will not accept these as 



The Rod That Budded 5 



sufficient credentials of a divine commission. Nor 
does he ask us to believe on the testimony of his 
mighty deeds alone. Near the beginning of his pub- 
lic ministry he named a test which is virtually the 
same that was prescribed when the twelve rods were 
laid up before the ark — life from the dead. When 
the Hebrews challenged Aaron to show his creden- 
tials as the high priest of the Most High, Moses an- 
swered, "The man whose rod shall blossom forth into 
the flowers and fruits which are the evidence of life 
shall minister to you in holy things." When the 
rulers challenged the right of Jesus to cleanse the 
temple of greedy traffickers and to call it his Father's 
House, Jesus threw down this counter-challenge, 
" 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise 
it up.' You will one day destroy this temple of my 
body, and I will prove to you by my resurrection 
from the grave that I am the Son of God, and that all 
authority and power have been given unto me." The 
rightfulness of his claims hinges on the answer to 
the question, "Did Jesus rise again from the grave? 
Did the rod of the house of David, though buried in 
Joseph's tomb, bud, and blossom, and yield fruit unto 
life eternal ?" This is the great question of the ages. 
Has the resurrection of Jesus been established beyond 
reasonable doubt? His friends and followers, al- 
though themselves slow to remember his predic- 
tions concerning his resurrection, were abundantly 
persuaded of its truth and preached that doctrine 
within a few weeks after his rising. His enemies 
started the rumor that his disciples stole away his 



6 The Rod That Budded 



body while the soldiers slept, but how the soldiers 
knew this to be true, or how this was possible with- 
out observation on a clear moonlight night, or why 
the body was not produced to disprove the apostles' 
testimony — are questions which still remain unan- 
swered. Tacitus, who lived during the latter half 
of the first century, wrote : "Christus, from whom the 
name Christian has its origin, suffered the extreme 
penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hand of 
one of our procurators, Pontius Pilate, and a most 
mischievous superstition, thus checked for the mo- 
ment, again broke out in Judea." (" Annals of Taci- 
tus/' book 15, chapter 44). This is not the testimony 
of an admiring friend, for he calls Christianity "a 
most mischievous superstition/' From official docu- 
ments or popular report this historian knew that 
Christianity, though checked for a time by the death 
of its founder, yet gained early and important tri- 
umphs on the very scene of its apparent defeat — a 
fact hard to believe on the supposition that the testi- 
mony of the disciples concerning the resurrection 
was a tissue of falsehoods or the result of baseless 
hallucinations. 

Jesus himself laid down a criterion by which to 
test all systems of religion, as well as to judge of his 
claim to be the oracle of God. "By their fruits ye 
shall know them." Again we inquire, Has the rod 
of David budded and blossomed out into life and 
fruit? Have the teachings of the Gospel borne such 
fruit in the world as to justify its claim to be the 
message of God to a lost world ? Let the history of 



The Rod That Budded 7 



nineteen centuries answer. Has it relieved the dark- 
ness which hung like a pall over the earth when Jesus 
came? Has it brought any respite to the weak and 
suffering, any degree of emancipation to the en- 
slaved, any measure of hope to the despairing, the 
uplifting power of a better purpose to those who were 
sunken in the depths of moral degradation ? Let one 
who was a life-long student of the trend of centuries 
give his estimation. In answer to the query, "What 
has the name of Jesus done for the world ? has it sent 
forth a celestial light among all nations?" a thought- 
ful student of history replied, "It has caused thrones 
of tyranny everywhere to tremble, it has banished 
idolatry and polytheism from the face of the earth, 
as the shades of night flee before the rising sun. The 
gorgeous temples of idolatry throughout the mighty 
Roman empire fled before it ; the altars of Jupiter and 
Minerva ceased to smoke, the heathen oracles passed 
into silence. It aroused all the opposition of Rome 
and endured centuries of most bloody persecution, 
but early in the fourth century it triumphed and saw 
the most colossal system of idolatry on the face of 
the earth at its feet. All the wisdom of Greek phi- 
losophers, all the magic of Greek poetry, and all the 
strength of Rome could not preserve a single god or 
a single goddess of the old system as a living deity. 
The Jews who oppose the religion of Jesus at the 
present time hardly have any life better than a dog's 
life where this name is not known, or where it is 
nearly the same as unknown. It has gone among the 
people of an island shrouded in the darkest clouds of 



8 The Rod That Budded 



heathenism, oppressed by their invisible horrible de- 
mons, and by their bloody tyrants in the shape of 
men, and has taught them the most sublime and use- 
ful lessons in religion and human rights, and raised 
them to a position of a light for all the world." * 
Has the once lifeless rod budded, and blossomed, and 
brought forth fruit ? Has the Gospel claim to be the 
message of God been verified by the fruits which it 
has yielded and, the fragrance it has shed abroad? 
Has it made life sweeter, safer, or more hopeful, or 
raised it to a higher, diviner, nobler plane ? 

Among those who profess loyalty to Jesus Christ 
and his Gospel are many who would substitute cul- 
ture for the cross. To them the doctrine of an atone- 
ment is a stumbling-block, mortifying to their pride, 
and a hindrance to the world-wide acceptance of the 
Gospel. They virtually re-echo the old cry, "Let 
him come down from the cross ^nd we will believe 
him. All that the world needs/ is a straight rule to 
go by, the inspiration of a pe^iect example and noble 
ideals, the attractive power jaff a heaven-born purpose, 
and the hope of a glorkms reward." But before 
Christ came the world had made thorough test of 
the power of culture to lift it from its fallen condi- 
tion. Culture reached its highest perfection in 
Greece, but it left mankind ignorant of the true God 
and hopelessly sunken in moral degradation. Paul 
was surrounded by the noble columns and capitals 
which gave Corinth her world-wide fame when he 



* "Luminous Unity," by the late Matthew R. Miller, D.D. 



The Rod That Budded 



wrote his fearful picture of the Gentile world in the 
opening chapters of his epistle to the Romans. 

The truest culture the world has ever known is 
Christian culture — that which proceeds from the doc- 
trine of the cross as its germinal power. Its principle 
is not "the survival of the fittest," but "the salvation 
of the unfittest" through the blood of the everlasting 
covenant. It alone can uproot the unsightly weed 
of selfishness and plant in its stead the germs of a 
Christ-like love. It was the rod of the priestly family 
that budded — the family that had been called to sacri- 
ficial servke. Had not our Lord surrendered his life 
on the cross, it must have forever remained a fruit- 
less tree. "Except a corn of wheat fall into the 
ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die, it 
bringeth forth much fruit." And only by the sacri- 
fice of himself could our Lord ransom lost souls and 
give unto them eternal life. "Thou hast nothing to 
draw with," an unspiritual world says to the Master. 
"The cross repels the multitudes of men. Eliminate 
that and they will flock to thy standard." To this 
demand the answer of the Lord is clear and emphatic : 
"I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men 
unto me." Instead of the doctrine of the cross being 
a hindrance to the success of the Gospel, it is the great 
power by which its victories have been won. To 
offer to the world a Gospel with the cross eliminated 
would be to rob it of its vitality and power. The 
noblest culture has followed in the wake of the 
preaching of the cross in its clearness and fulness. 
It has been the great motive which has carried the 



io The Rod That Budded 



missionary to benighted places of the earth. It has 
lifted communities from a state of beastly barbarism 
to a state of refinement and security. It has re- 
claimed the wandering, cheered the desponding, up- 
held the fainting, transfigured the cruel and sordid 
and selfish into angelic holiness and loveliness. It 
has changed the savage cannibal into the gentle, self- 
sacrificing neighbor and friend. It has transformed 
whole communities from places of riot and bloodshed 
and terror into abodes of peace, safety and love. 
Wherever the Gospel has been taught in simplicity 
and love, it has become the rod that budded and 
brought fruit unto everlasting life. To endeavor to 
substitute culture for the cross would be to attempt 
to produce fruits without roots, to produce the after- 
glow of the twilight without the full radiance of the 
day. 

Men may not be persuaded into believing the Gos- 
pel because of what they recognize as its "sweet 
reasonableness," but they do believe in it when 
preached in fulness and clearness because it answers 
to the great need of their souls and lives. They come 
to feel, not so much that a doctrine is true because it 
is found in the Bible, as that it has a place in the 
Bible because it is true. The Gospel is the power of 
God unto salvation because it meets and satisfies the 
unutterable cravings of the human soul. This is what 
none of the rival claimants for our acceptance can 
do. One who spent years in India says that the most 
thirsty men he ever saw were the crew of a helpless 
craft which had been drifting for days upon the wide 



The Rod That Budded n 



sea — water, water everywhere, yet not a drop to 
quench their thirst ; and that the most godless nation 
upon the face of the earth is the nation which reckons 
its gods by the millions. Among the myriads of gods 
of which India boasts there is none which answers 
the craving for pardon, pity, or love. The conception 
of God as a Father is utterly wanting in all systems 
of idolatry. Only through Jesus do men learn to 
come to him as to a father. None of these systems 
answer the question, "How can a man be just with 
God?" The most thrilling moment in the Parlia- 
ment of Religions was when Joseph Cook rose after 
representatives of pagan systems had made their 
claims, and challenged them to show any religion 
save that of the Lord Jesus Christ that could wash 
away the blood-spots from Lady Macbeth's hand. 

Can it be shown that the blessings which spring 
from the name of Jesus are the fruits which were for- 
feited by eating of the forbidden fruit ? Is the cross 
the rod that budded, and bloomed blossoms, and 
brought forth almonds? 



CHAPTER II. 



THE FORBIDDEN TREE 

"I planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed ; how then 
art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine?" 
—Jeremiah 2 : 21. 

IT is not voices from heaven alone that tell 
of man's fall from the blessed estate in 
which he was created. The broken column 
with fragments of noble capitals covered with 
weeds and rubbish, tells of the magnificent temple 
which once crowned the spot where they lie. The 
brilliant thoughts of the maniac, expressed in lucid 
moments amid the wildest ravings, reveal the 
gigantic intellect which is now in ruins. The 
rank growth in the neglected garden suggests its 
beauty and variety in the days of careful cultivation. 
The protests of an offended conscience, the remorse 
that follows a sinful deed, the longing for something 
better and holier, tell of brighter and better days in 
the history of the race. For man is great even in 
ruins, and the shattered fragments of his former 
glory are index fingers pointing to what he once was, 
and what he might and would have been had he been 
true to his inheritance. 



The Forbidden Tree 13 



The universal tendency to drift toward evil con- 
firms the fact that every faculty of man's nature suf- 
fered from the fall, and that all mankind are sharers 
in its ruinous effects. There is everywhere a ten- 
dency to drop from better to worse, from higher to 
lower planes of life. We see it in the garden which 
yields abundantly when cultivated, but soon becomes 
overgrown with weeds when neglected. We see it 
in the culture of vegetation which tends to drift from 
a higher to an inferior type. We see it in the univer- 
sal tendency of individuals, communities and nations, 
to settle down into worse habits of living after every 
spasmodic effort to reform. For the same tendencies 
are found on all parts of the globe, and in all periods 
of human history. The consequences of the fall are 
universal — both in the sense of depraving and de- 
grading all the faculties of our nature, and in the ex- 
tension of these consequences to all ages and climes. 

The presence of the forbidden tree in the garden of 
delights was a visible, tangible reminder that there 
was evil and danger in the fair universe of God, and 
that the newly created race needed to be upon its 
guard. That the prohibition was limited to one single 
tree speaks of the goodness and liberality of the Crea- 
tor; that such a prohibition was thrown about the 
one forbidden tree was a gracious reminder of the 
need of care. No aspersion can justly be made of 
his goodness for placing such a tree in the garden. 
It would have served a gracious purpose, had man 
heeded its warnings, as the danger-signal at the rail- 
way crossing is a merciful provision for all who 



14 The Rod That Budded 



travel. The presence of the forbidden tree said, 
"Stop ! Look ! Listen ! Beyond this line there is a 
deadly peril ! Keep in harmony with God's will, and 
live f orevermore ! Transgress his holy law, and 
death must be the result!" 

The inspired account of the fall has its confirma- 
tion in the universal experience of the race. The 
process by which the citadel of the soul was scaled 
and overthrown has a counterpart in the temptations 
of every life. First there came a challenge of the 
truth which God had spoken. "Hath God said?" 
And in a thousand modifications and modulations 
the same challenge is whispered in every soul con- 
cerning the word which he has written on the living 
heart and on the inspired page. Though the chal- 
lenge has been answered as often as it has been 
raised, the tempter still plies his craft in awakening 
doubts. If he fails in this, if the tempted one replies 
with Eve, "God hath said," then Satan employs his 
wily artifice to cast suspicion upon the goodness of 
the gracious Creator. He seeks to turn away the 
heart from the countless privileges he has generously 
bestowed, and cause it to chafe and fret under the 
single restraint he has graciously imposed. All the 
delights of the garden counted as nothing so long 
as there was one tree of which God had said, "Ye 
shall not eat of it." For every one whose doubts 
ripen into open and bold skepticism, there are thou- 
sands who permit their minds to rankle with mis- 
trust of the goodness of the Father of mercies and 
break forth into bitter complaints about their lot in 



The Forbidden Tree 15 



life. The tempter boldly asserted that the one thing 
which God had withheld from his children was that 
which, above all that he had bestowed, would pro- 
mote their happiness and progress. "In the day ye 
eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be 
as gods." By such illusive promises, by the delusive 
mirage, by the deceptive ignis-fatuus, he is continu- 
ally leading souls into paths of darkness and death. 
We write the record of our mercies in the sand, but 
grave our troubles in the rock, and chafe and fret 
to break into forbidden pastures, or walk in forbid- 
den paths. 

The consequences of the first transgression imme- 
diately began to appear. First among these was lost 
standing with God, with whom they had walked in 
such loving communion. Before he drove them from 
the garden, our first parents banished themselves 
from his gracious presence. Instead of welcoming 
his approach with joyous hearts, they sought to hide 
themselves from his face. His voice was not needed 
to tell them that they had forfeited all right to his 
favor. Their own guilty consciences quickly in- 
formed them of this fact, and filled them with dread 
at the thought of standing before his presence. 
They had broken the condition upon which life and 
happiness were promised, and they knew that they 
deserved the only alternative — disapproval and death. 
In the moment of the first transgression man lost the 
position of a favored, loyal child, and fell to that of 
a guilty and self-condemned culprit. And ever since 
he has been drifting farther and farther from God. 



1 6 The Rod That Budded 



Man lost the Father's likeness at the same moment 
that he fell from his high standing as a child in the 
Creator's family. Heretofore perfect confidence in 
God and mutual satisfaction one with another had 
been leading features in the family likeness. But 
not more quickly does the drop of ink darken the 
water in which it is placed, or stain the snowy fabric 
on which it falls, than did the first transgression in 
the garden destroy the spotless purity of the trans- 
gressors' souls. From that moment love for God was 
changed into slavish dread, mutual confidence gave 
place to suspicion and mistrust with all their darkling 
brood. Alienation from the life of God followed im- 
mediately upon the breaking of the loyal relation in 
which the transgressors had stood, and being severed 
from the fountain of life, with the interruption of its 
life and health-imparting streams, the work of dis- 
solution and decay immediately set in. Not that the 
transgressors immediately lost all traces of the 
Father's likeness. The body from which the breath of 
life has departed does not immediately fall into the 
corruption of death. The features still retain their 
general appearance, though the seal of the destroyer 
is immediately stamped upon them. Yet from that 
moment the process of dissolution begins, and we 
hasten to bury our dead out of our sight. To be 
dead in trespasses and in sins does not mean that men 
are as depraved as they might be, nor as depraved as 
they shall be if they continue their alienation from the 
life of God ; but that they lack those life and health- 
imparting streams which flow only from him who is 



The Forbidden Tree 



l 7 



the Fountain of life, which alone can retard and over- 
come the tendency to grow worse and worse, and re- 
store to the soul the beauty and soundness which once 
it possessed. The picture of human depravity which 
began in the estrangement of our first parents from 
the love and likeness of God reaches its climax in the 
dark portrayal of the vices of the Gentile world in 
Paul's letters to the Romans and other churches, or 
in the description of those who are forever cast out 
from God's presence found among the visions of the 
seer of Patmos. 

Banishment from a home of perfect plenty and de- 
light was a part also of the consequences of partaking 
of the forbidden tree. "The Lord God sent him forth 
from the garden of Eden to till the ground from 
which he was taken." A generation ago a wide in- 
terest was awakened by a little book from the pen of 
one of America's foremost authors relating the prob- 
able experiences of "A Man Without a Country." A 
young army officer, suspected of treason, was brought 
before a court martial for trial. Being adjudged 
guilty, and asked what he had to say before sentence 
for disloyalty to his country was pronounced, he ex- 
pressed the hope that he might never again see or 
hear the name of his country. "You have passed 
your own sentence," replied the judge. "It is the 
judgment of this court that you be henceforth placed 
upon a ship that shall bear you away from your 
native shores, with instructions to those who shall 
be your guards never to utter the name of your native 
land in your hearing, and never to permit your eyes 



1 8 The Rod That Budded 



to fall upon its printed or written name." And this 
was the sentence — as the pathetic story runs — that 
was literally inflicted. At first the condemned made 
light of it. He found pleasure in visiting new shores 
and scenes, and affected to despise the decree that 
doomed him to perpetual exile. But as years went by 
and he was still denied the sight of the old familiar 
shores, the strain evidently began to tell upon his 
frame. His eyes grew sunken, and his cheeks pale 
and thin. He was allowed to talk freely to compan- 
ions and they with him — only the name of the land 
which had given him birth was strictly proscribed. 
Papers and books were freely placed in his hands, 
but first the name of the United States was carefully 
removed. Often in reading a paper, he would find 
himself unable to complete an interesting discussion 
or story, because some harmless advertisement 
printed on the opposite side had to be clipped out be- 
cause it contained the prohibited name. He was a 
charming impersonator, and often his associates 
would ask him to read from some favorite volume 
while they sat and listened. Once he was reading 
Scott's "Lay of the Last Minstrel," and not realizing 
what a sword he was plunging into his own soul stag- 
gered through the following lines : 

"Breathes there the man, with soul so dead, 
Who never to himself hath said, 
'This is my own, my native land !' " 

Here he turned slightly pale, but mustering all his 
courage he kept bravely on: 



The Forbidden Tree 



19 



"Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned, 
As home his footsteps he hath turned 
From wandering on a foreign strand? — 
If such there breathe, go, mark him well! 
For him no minstrel raptures swell; 
High though his titles, proud his name, 
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim, 
Despite these titles, power and pelf, 
The wretch, concentred all in self." 

Here the poor fellow's utterance was choked, and 
flinging the book far out into the sea, he sought the 
privacy of his stateroom, and for many weeks 
avoided the companionship of others. Little by little 
his spirit of bravado forsook him, and he grew prem- 
aturely gray and grave. One day he said to a 
young marine who told him that he had not heard 
a word from home in six months : 

"Let that show you what it is to be without a fam- 
ily, without a home, and without a country. If you 
are ever tempted to say a word or to do a thing that 
shall put a bar betw r een you and your family, your 
home and your country, pray God in his mercy to 
take you that instant to his own home in heaven. 
Stick by your family, boy; forget you have a self, 
while you do everything for them. Let it be nearer 
and nearer to your thought, the farther you travel 
from it. And as for your country," and the words 
rattled in his throat, "and for that flag," and he 
pointed to the ship, "never dream a dream but of 
serving her as she bids you, though the service carry 
you through a thousand hells !" 



20 The Rod That Budded 



When his joyless life was ended, they found his 
Bible marked at the place, 

''They desire a country, even a heavenly; wherefore God 
is not ashamed to be called their God; for he hath pre- 
pared for them a city. ,, 

If expatriation from the country of one's birth for 
the brief term of an earthly life brings it down with 
sorrow to the grave, what is it to be "aliens from the 
commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the cove- 
nants of promise, having no hope, and without God 
in the world ?" 

The tree from which our first parents plucked the 
forbidden fruit disappeared with others which grew 
in the garden of delights, but that for which it stood 
has spread itself all over the face of the earth. 
Wherever human lives are found, there the tempter 
is also, enticing them to eat forbidden fruit, and the 
consequences of their disobedience are everywhere 
manifest. The degeneration wrought by sin is sug- 
gested by the very name often applied to the garden 
in which our first parents were placed at their crea- 
tion. Paradise is a Persian word for park or a gar- 
den of delight. But too often the enclosures which 
have been made delightful to the eye by the most 
beautiful flowers and trees become the scenes of the 
wildest dissipation and demoralization. Some of the 
severest woes and warnings of prophecy were uttered 
against the midnight orgies that disgraced the gar- 
dens and groves that surrounded heathen temples 
and altars. And too often, even in highly favored 



The Forbidden Tree 21 



Christian lands, beautiful parks become the scene 
of much lawless dissipation — so different is fallen 
man's idea of a paradise from that which God created 
and fitted to be man's abode. Yet even here a joyous 
note of hope sounds out from the discords of lawless 
revelry. The Spirit of God has made the word para- 
dise a synonym for all that is holy and lovely — the 
garden of delight in the heavenly city into which sin 
and sorrow shall never enter. We hear the word 
spoken by the lips of the Sinless One as he hangs upon 
the cross paying the price of a lost world's ransom. 
"To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise." And 
the sounding forth of this word bids us hope for a 
new heaven and a new earth in which there shall be 
no more curse. 



CHAPTER III. 



THE CHERUBIM-GUARDED TREE 

THE light that was kindled at Eden's gate has 
never gone out. We may trace its flickering 
rays amid the traditions of departed nations. 
Among the myths and mysteries of a buried past we 
find the after-glow of a banished golden age, and 
here and there the fore-gleam of better days to come. 
And that which glows with dim, distorted rays amid 
the records and rites of a pagan world shines with 
ever-growing radiance through the heaven-inspired 
Word. 

Among the legends of the past there linger traces 
of a golden age in which man knew neither sin, suf- 
fering, nor death. The ancient Egyptian looked 
back to the terrestrial reign of the god Ra as a time 
of such purity and peace that it ever afterward stood 
as the standard of all that was delightsome and per- 
fect. The Zenda-Avesta tells of Yima, the first 
Iranic king, who lived in a secluded garden of delight, 
where he and his people enjoyed unbroken happiness, 
where neither sin, nor folly, nor violence, nor pov- 
erty, nor deformity ever entered. The sacred books 
of the Celestial Empire tell of a period when every- 
thing was beautiful and good, when all beings were 



The Cherubim-Guarded Tree 23 

perfect in their kind, when the best of heaven and 
earth joined hands to embellish nature, when there 
was no jarring in the elements, no inclemency in the 
air, when all things worked in harmony for the per- 
fecting of this lower sphere. The writings of the 
Hindu tell of a first age of the world when the good 
possessed by mortals was mixed with no baseness, 
when man, free from disease and care, saw all his 
wishes gratified and sweetly fell asleep at the age of 
four hundred years. 

In these old-time traditions we see a more or less 
colored and distorted reproduction of the story of 
Eden, where no discord ever grated upon the ear of 
its innocent guardians, where no deformity ever 
pained their sense of vision, where no blush of shame 
mantled the brow, where the cheek never blanched 
with fear. The very terms and figures used in Sacred 
Writ to denote the blessedness of man's first estate 
are often reproduced in the traditions of the heathen 
world. The Hindu, the Persian, the Arab, the As- 
syrian had his traditions of a tree of life whose fruit 
was endowed with the power to bestow immortality. 
The Greek poet sang of golden apples from the Gar- 
den of the Hesperides, and one of the tasks assigned 
to Hercules was to recover this golden fruit at the 
risk of his life. On Assyrian sculptures the tree of 
life is often found. Sometimes it stands alone. 
Sometimes it is worshipped by royal figures, at others 
guarded by winged forms in the attitude of devotion. 
Wherever found it is one of the loftiest of religious 
emblems. One tradition of India speaks of four such 



24 The Rod That Budded 



trees on the four corners of Mount Neru. The ancient 
Persians sometimes pictured a single tree springing 
from the midst of a holy fountain. The most ancient 
name of Babylon in the idiom of those early ages was 
"The Place of the Tree of Life/' The sacred tree 
of Assyria was sometimes guarded by genii, another 
coincidence with the Biblical narrative which tells 
of the cherubim with the flaming sword guarding 
the way of the tree of life. 

There must have been a gracious purpose in the 
placing of these heavenly guardians to keep the way 
of this sacred tree. God had a beneficent design in 
planting it in the midst of the garden. Even the tree 
whose fruit brought death served a merciful pur- 
pose, warning the inhabitants of the garden against 
the danger-line of disobedience. If the tree of death 
served such a gracious purpose, much more the tree 
of life. It seems to have been endowed with both 
natural and sacramental qualities. Other trees might 
contribute to man's daily support; this alone could 
preserve in undecaying vigor a being to be supported. 
Other trees yielded nourishment to the existing func- 
tions of the human frame ; this only could minister to 
life at its fountain-head. They might have kept 
nature alive for a time, as the fruits of earth still do ; 
to this tree belonged the property of fortifying the 
vital powers of nature against injury and disease and 
the dissolution of death. Thus early in the existence 
of the race could man read that he was destined to 
immortality. The tree of life in the midst of the 
garden was a token of the abiding nearness of him 



The Cherubim-Guarded Tree 25 

in whom they lived and moved. It was a reminder 
that so long as they permitted no alienation to spring 
up between him and their souls they would continue 
to enjoy life and the light of the divine countenance. 
Had man kept his holy estate, perhaps under the 
shade of this tree the grateful inhabitants of the 
garden would have met and chanted anthems of 
praise to their gracious Creator and Bountiful Bene- 
factor. 

After man had fallen from his holy estate, the tree 
of life, though guarded by the cherubim and the 
sword of flame, still served a gracious purpose. It 
kept hope alive in his heart and at the same time in- 
spired a reverential fear, coupled with aspirations 
after holiness. The sword has always been a symbol 
of avenging justice. Seen in such a place it pro- 
claimed the holiness and majesty of the Most High. 
Every glimpse of him, whether at the garden gate or 
in later revelations, reveals his character as directly 
opposed to that of heathen gods, which are often vile 
to the utmost extreme. 

In the light of later uses of the cherubim, these 
figures, placed before the tree of life, become em- 
phatically the emblem of hope. Figures of cherubim 
were wrought upon the veil which formed the door 
of entrance to the Mercy Seat in tabernacle and 
temple. Over that Mercy Seat golden figures of 
cherubim stretched their wings, and the voice of God 
was heard speaking to Moses, 'There will I meet 
with thee, and I will commune with thee, above the 
Mercy Seat, from between the two cherubim which 



26 The Rod That Budded 



are upon the Ark of the Testimony." When the 
tabernacle was first erected and Moses went in to 
speak with God, he heard the voice of One speaking 
unto him from off the Mercy Seat that was upon the 
Ark of the Testimony, from between the cheru- 
bim. 

Thoughts of these heavenly figures always in- 
spired hope in the heart of the Hebrew suppliant. 
When Hezekiah was threatened with overwhelming 
disaster by the proud Assyrian, he went into the 
house of the Lord and spread the defiant letter which 
he had received before him, and said, "O Lord God 
of Israel, who dwellest between the cherubim . . . 
bow down thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes and 
see, save thou us out of his hand." When the Psalm- 
ist of Israel saw God's heritage laid waste like a 
vineyard whose hedges have been broken down, ex- 
posing it to the ravages of the wild beasts, then he 
addressed his prayer unto the Shepherd of Israel, 
unto him who led Joseph like a flock, to him who 
dwelt between the cherubim. 

Still more significant and suggestive do the cheru- 
bim before the tree in the garden become when we 
remember their identity with the living creatures 
seen by Ezekiel on the banks of Chebar, and by John 
on Patmos. There they are seen to be endowed with 
life in its fullest and completest forms. They are 
represented as wearing the face or the form of the 
lion, the ox, the eagle, and the man, representatives 
of peerless majesty and strength, of patience and pro- 
ductive energy, of loftiest flights and noblest aspira- 



The Cherubim-Guarded Tree 27 

tions, combined with god-like intelligence and the 
heart of love. 

When such creatures were set to guard the way to 
the tree of life, was not their presence at once the 
emblem and shield of immortality, the promise of a 
blessed hope that although man had forfeited his 
right to the blessings symbolized by the tree of life, 
yet a way of return to that from which he had been 
expelled was yet to be opened, and a way which 
would be consistent with the holiness of God and 
which would at the same time display his matchless, 
limitless mercy ? And is not the great purpose of the 
later revelations to set open before the world the 
processes by which that way has been reopened, and 
the terms and conditions by which guilty man may 
now enter? 

The understanding of that way is the most im- 
portant knowledge to which mankind can attain. 
What matters it though we understand all about the 
rocks and strata of the earth, yet remain forever 
banished from the presence of him whose favor is 
life, and whose loving-kindness is better than life? 
What matters it though we can comprehend much of 
the ways and works of God, though we can count 
the stars, and measure their distance, and weigh 
them in scales and balances, and yet remain ignorant 
of him whom to know is life eternal ? 

We know not what message of hope the cherubim 
before the tree of life brought to the hearts of our 
first parents and others who looked upon them. But 
does it seem too much to surmise that they saw in 



28 The Rod That Budded 



their presence a token that God had not forsaken 
them, that they might still enjoy his favor, and would 
at last be received into a paradise into which sin and 
sorrow might never enter ? A Christian poet repre- 
sents Enoch as speaking to Javan of the death of 
Adam, at which one of the seraphim flew from 
heaven's portals to conduct his departing spirit to 
endless rest and glory. 

"Around his couch with filial awe we kneeled, 
When suddenly a light from heaven reveal'd 
A. spirit, that stood within the unopen'd door; — 
The sword of God in his right hand he bore; 
His countenance was lightning, and his vest 
Like snow at sunrise on the mountain's crest; 
Yet, so benignly beautiful his form, 
His presence still' d the fury of the storm; 
At once the winds retire, the waters cease; 
His look was love, his salutation 'Peace !' 
Our mother first beheld him, sore amazed, 
But terror grew to transport while she gazed: 
' 'Tis he, the Prince of Seraphim, who drove 
Our banish'd feet from Eden's happy grove; 
Adam, my life, my spouse, awake!' she cried: 
'Return to Paradise; behold thy guide!'" 

— Montgomery. 

If we follow the leadings of the cherubim as we 
find them here and there on the pages of inspiration, 
who can tell but that they will lead us back to the 
tree of life? 

Sometimes those who visit caves or catacombs 
carry with them a cord, one end of which is fastened 
near the entrance, so that if they should lose their 



The Cherubim- Guarded Tree 29 

way, they may by following its leadings find their 
way back to the light. Man has lost his way in the 
dark mazes and labyrinths of sin. Can we find a 
guide that will lead us back to the light which shone 
at Eden's gate? In the better days of the Jewish 
commonwealth, finger-boards were erected pointing 
the way to the nearest city of refuge. No sight, save 
that of the place of safety itself, could have been more 
grateful to the fleeing man-slayer. When men real- 
ize that their condition is one of darkness and danger, 
they hail with delight every indication of the way to 
light and safety. 

With the cherubim which guarded the way to the 
tree of life as our guide, let us seek for a meeting 
place between God and man. We shall find figures 
of these heavenly messengers on the vail which 
formed the door of the Hebrew tabernacle, and if we 
were permitted to enter we would find them in more 
substantial form in the most holy place in the golden 
figures which overshadowed the ark of the covenant. 
Here we may also imagine ourselves back once more 
at the tree of life in the garden of Eden ; for again 
we find a fiery token of the divine presence, and the 
cherubim intently looking toward the ark. We know, 
too, that provision has been made for man's drawing 
near to the dwelling-place of God, for we hear his 
voice, "There will I meet with thee, and I will com- 
mune with thee from above the mercy-seat, from be- 
tween the cherubim." It was from this that the 
tabernacle received its proper name — "The Tent of 
Meeting;" for it was the meeting place between God 



30 The Rod That Budded 



and man, where he listened to the supplications of 
his people and bestowed his grace and favor. 

Let us take our stand without the door of the taber- 
nacle, which may correspond to man's place outside 
the garden. At Eden's gate man had been taught the 
necessity of the shedding of blood in order to obtain 
remission of sin. The coats which God provided for 
our first parents were obtained through the death of 
animals, and he himself clothed them in the skins of 
these animals after they were slain. Thus early did 
he teach that only through an atoning sacrifice could 
a covering be provided for sin. The same truth was 
emphatically taught at the door of the tabernacle. 
The worshiper came first to the altar of burnt-offer- 
ing, on which the fire was forever kept burning, 
where he was continually reminded that without the 
shedding of blood is no remission of sin. Next to 
this altar stood the laver at which the priests per- 
formed their ablutions, teaching the necessity of clean 
hands and a pure heart in those who would draw 
near to God. In the first room of the tabernacle 
proper were the golden candlestick, the table of shew- 
bred and the incense altar — symbolizing the privi- 
leges of those who draw near to him — enlighten- 
ment, communion, and the privilege of intercession. 
Beyond the vail stood the ark of the covenant and 
over it the mercy-seat overshadowed by the cheru- 
bim. Into this holy of holies the high priest alone 
was permitted to enter, and he only with the blood 
of atonement once a year to make atonement and in- 
tercession for the people. 



The Cherubim-Guarded Tree 31 



Is there not a suggestiveness in the very order in 
which these pieces of furniture stood in the taber- 
nacle ? Near the entrance to the outer court stood the 
altar where the sin-offerings were consumed. Within 
the first room of the sanctuary stood the golden 
candlestick on one side, and the table of shew-bread 
on the other, and at the farther end the golden altar 
where the daily incense was burned. Had a line been 
drawn from this altar to the brazen altar, and this 
intersected by another connecting the candlestick and 
the table, these lines would have formed the outline 
of a cross. 

One of the old masters represents the Child Jesus 
as standing in the doorway of his mother's home in 
Nazareth with arms extended in such a way as to 
throw upon the floor of that humble dwelling the 
shadow of the cross. This was only an artist's fancy. 
Yet we know that the Lord Jesus walked all his days 
on earth in the shadow of the cross of Calvary, which 
threw its backward shadows all along his pathway. 
We know too that only when we walk in the shadow 
of the cross, having his blood sprinkled upon our 
hearts, can we make an acceptable approach to the 
mercy-seat of God. And more plainly than was ever 
painted by artist's brush may we see the same shadow 
on the floor of his Father's house, the tabernacle or 
the temple. 

It may be too fanciful to see in the arrangement of 
the tabernacle furniture a foreshadowing of the cross 
on which the world's Redeemer was to give his life 
for the life of the world. But is it too much for those 



32 The Rod That Budded 



who believe in the name of him who loved us and gave 
himself for us to see in this order a reminder of the 
means by which he laid down his life for our sakes, 
and the way by which we may draw near to the 
mercy-seat? Approaching by way of the cross the 
humble suppliant beholds a gracious Redeemer hold- 
ing in one hand the golden candlestick with its gra- 
cious light, in the other the bread of communion, 
while with his lips he makes prevailing intercessions 
at the throne. 



"He is the Way, without which there is no going; 
He is the Truth, without which there is no knowing; 
He is the Life, without which there is no living." 

Jesus is more than the Way to life; he is the Life 
itself — the tree of life that never disappoints and 
shall never fail. This was also signified by the He- 
brew tabernacle. When the holiest of holies was 
reached there was nothing to be seen except the ark 
of the testimony overshadowed by the cherubim and 
the Shekinah which was the symbol of the divine 
Presence. What then made access into that Presence 
so desirable? Was it not because God had said, 
'There I will meet with thee and I will commune 
with thee"? The tree of life in the garden was a 
symbol of the loving presence and favor of God, and 
that which man chiefly lost through his transgres- 
sion was the favor and fellowship of God. It is to 
this that he is restored by him who is the Way, the 
Truth, and the Life. Why all this shedding of blood 
around the brazen altar? Why the sprinkling of the 



The Cherubim-Guarded Tree 33 

blood and the burning of incense? What was there 
in the most holy place that repaid for all the scrupu- 
lous care with which prescribed orders were ob- 
served? When Antiochus forced his way into the 
holiest place of the temple, he was surprised to find 
nothing but the dome of the rock — the ark itself 
being wanting after the captivity. And unspiritual 
minds wonder what there is in the Christian life 
that compensates for all the self-denials for which it 
calls. They know not the meaning of the promise, 
"There will I commune with thee." Communion 
with the Lord is the very essence of true life. The 
privilege of communing with God abundantly repaid 
for all the care and sacrifices that preceded the en- 
trance into the holiest of holies. Communion with 
him who is our life richly repays all the self-denial 
for which his Gospel calls. His favor is life. His 
loving-kindness is better than life. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE BUSH THAT BURNED 

THE redemption from Egyptian bondage in 
many ways foreshadowed the greater deliver- 
ance of which intimation was given in the 
garden of Eden. It was from a mighty world power 
— the greatest of the age — that the chosen people 
were set free. The monuments of the Pharaoh of 
the Oppression scattered over Egypt show with what 
good reason Moses hesitated to go into his presence 
with the divine message, "Let my people go." He 
knew the power of that throne, and the haughtiness 
of him that sat upon it, and he rightly surmised that 
he would yield to no human demand to let the op- 
pressed go free. Only through an almighty hand 
could deliverance come to that people. Yet this de- 
liverance was wrought through human leadership, 
divinely called, commissioned and supported. 

The scene accompanying the call of Moses leads 
us back to the gate of Eden and suggests anew the 
tree that was guarded by cherubim and the flaming 
sword. A tree is again the chosen symbol of the di- 
vine presence — not the lofty cedar of Lebanon, nor 
the comely fir or myrtle, but a thorn bush or bramble, 
the wild acacia of the desert. Yet it is a great sight 



The Bush That Burned 35 



that arrests the attention of the humble shepherd, 
for the bush which a spark might easily have reduced 
to ashes burned with a radiant glow, and yet was not 
consumed. Here also a hand restrains too near an 
approach to the presence of which the lambent flame 
was a symbol, for as Moses draws near to behold the 
great sight, he hears a voice, "Draw not nigh hither; 
put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place 
whereon thou standest is holy ground." 

While the lesson of reverence was primarily 
taught, it was quickly followed by a revelation of 
the gracious character of him who spoke out of the 
bush. He proclaimed himself as "the God of thy 
father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and 
the God of Jacob." He proceeded also to tell of his 
compassion for the oppressed. His ear had heard 
every groan which had escaped their lips. His eye 
had witnessed every stroke of the taskmasters that 
had been laid upon them. He had borne long with 
their oppressors, but the time of deliverance was at 
hand. 

The burning bush has long been regarded as a 
symbol of the Church — the people of God in the 
world. Its burning, yet being unconsumed, is a 
beautiful emblem of the preservation of his Church 
in the midst of the fierce persecutions which have 
come upon her. Yet this use of the vision which 
Moses had at Horeb does not preclude our linking 
it with the tree of life in the garden of Eden. That 
tree, we have seen, was the symbol of the dwelling- 
place of the Most High, the place of worship after the 



36 The Rod That Budded 



expulsion from the garden, and the Church is also 
his dwelling-place. He dwells in the hearts of the 
humble and contrite. He is present in their wor- 
shiping assemblies. He manifests his grace and 
favor through his ordinances wherever they are sin- 
cerely observed. It is his presence as the spirit of 
life that preserves the Church unconsumed in the 
furnace of persecution, and the same blessed presence 
makes it a tree of life to a famishing, dying world. 

The bush that burned was the dwelling-place of the 
ever-living One. Was it not therefore for the time a 
symbol of the tree of life ? When the Voice first spoke 
to Moses out of the bush he revealed himself as the 
God of his father, the God of Abraham, the God of 
Isaac, and the God of Jacob ; not merely the God of 
creation, from whom all creatures derived their ex- 
istence, but the God of the covenant who had prom- 
ised the fathers, "I will bless thee, and thou shalt be 
a blessing." Especially did the new name which he 
revealed out of the burning bush give promise of life 
and immortality. When Moses asked what he should 
say when his oppressed brethren inquired who had 
sent him for their deliverance, the Voice answered, 
"Say ye, I AM hath sent me unto you." This name 
proclaimed him as the eternal, unfailing life-giver. 
He alone can say "I AM" by the power of his eter- 
nal, self-existent Being. He is the Being from whom 
every other life has its start and support. The 
thought which was there revealed to Moses was 
afterward made known to the humble disciples of 
Galilee, "Because I live, ye shall live also." Since 



The Bush That Burned 37 



he is the eternal, self-existent One, he is able to give 
life in all its fulness and power to those who draw 
near to him. 

The name that was revealed out of the bush con- 
tains the essential thought of the sacred, incom- 
municable name Jehovah, * by which he especially 



* Since writing the above we have received the follow- 
ing communication from Rabbi J. Leonard Levy, D.D., 
pastor of the Hebrew congregation Rodeph Shalom, Pitts- 
burg, Pa., in reference to the sacred incommunicable name. 
It gives us pleasure to insert his kind reply to our in- 
quiries as to the use and understanding of this Name 
among present-day Jews. 

He writes: 

"The name Jehovah (J H V H) is the sacred tetragram- 
maton and was not and is not pronounced by Jews except 
under the form of Adonai. The four letters J H V H are 
used, but the vowels of the word Adonai are combined with 
them, because the true pronunciation of the word is not 
known. Some insist that the word should be pronounced 
'Jahveh.' I think I am correct when I state that it is the 
opinion of modern Hebrew scholars that there is an inti- 
mate connection between the name J H V H and the verb 
Hayah, which means 'to be.' This opinion is based upon 
the origin of the name as given in Exodus 3. The gram- 
matical rendering of the phrase T AM THAT I AM' ne- 
cessitates the translation of the reply given to Moses: 'I 
WILL BE THAT I WILL BE/ There are some who 
believe that the four letters of the sacred name are to be 
interpreted as follows: 

the initial letter of Ji'jeh ; 1 He will be.' ( Pronounce 

V, the initial consonants of Ho-veh; 4 He is.' < J like the 
H, the initial letter of the word Ha-jah ; 1 He was.' ( English Y. 

"This to my mind is forced and fanciful. I do not think 
it is based on fact, but is mere conjecture. Those who 
hold that the word should be pronounced Jahveh incline 
to the view that the word is derived from the root mean- 
ing 'to fall/ and hold that the sacred name is the causa- 



38 The Rod That Budded 



revealed himself to his covenant people. Being a 
part of the verb of being, this name reveals the self- 
existence of him to whom alone it is given. The 
form of the name which God proclaimed out of the 
bush is future, though by a peculiarity in the Hebrew 
language it admits of a present signification. Instead 
of "I AM THAT I AM" we may read, "I WILL BE 
THAT I WILL BE." When Moses would announce 
to the pious Israelites, "HE THAT WILL BE hath 
sent me unto you," would they not think of the Prom- 
ised Deliverer which had been the hope of the race 
from the moment of the first Gospel message in the 
garden? It may have been with the understanding 
that this promise was to be immediately fulfilled that 
Eve gave name to her first-born — "gotten" or "ob- 
tained," for she said, "I have gotten a man from the 
Lord," or as it might be rendered, "I have gotten a 
man, Jahveh"— "He that shall be." Be this as it 
may, the Jehovah of the Old Testament is unques- 
tionably the promised Redeemer. In him patriarchs 
and prophets trusted for salvation. What better evi- 
dence need we of this than we find in some of 
the special covenant names which were revealed from 



tive form (Hiphil) of the verb, 'He maketh to fall/ having 
reference to the fact, as they hold, that the God of Sinai 
became revealed to the early Hebrews in his destructive 
character, owing- to the wastes and deserts abounding m 
the region of the holy mountain. The matter is shrouded in 
clouds of difficulty and we are forced to accept the Bible's in- 
terpretation of the word in Exodus 3, where we find the con- 
nection of the Name with the verb to be, conveying to us the 
impression that God is he that ever^ will be, or as the 
English express it so well, 'The Eternal'. " 



The Bush That Burned 39 



time to time — Jehovah- Jireh, the Lord will provide; 
Jehovah-Ropheka, the Lord our healer; Jehovah- 
Shalom, the Lord our peace ; Jehovah-Tsidkenu, the 
Lord our righteousness; Jehovah-Shammah, the 
Lord is there. Listen to the poet-king's song of as- 
surance: "Jehovah is my light and my salvation." 
Hear the prophet's declaration of confidence: "Trust 
ye in the Lord forever; for in the Lord Jehovah is 
everlasting strength." Let those who would know 
more of the comfort and hope which this covenant 
name inspired in those who looked for a Saviour to 
come read the Old Testament Scriptures with this in 
view, substituting the name Jehovah for Lord where- 
ever it is found in small capital letters. For our 
translators, following the example of pious Jews who 
substitute the name Adonai for that which they re- 
gard too sacred to pronounce, have in many instances 
substituted the word Lord for Jehovah, indicating 
this substitution by the use of small capital letters. 

The name Jehovah occurs with growing frequency 
as we near the close of the Old Testament revelation, 
especially the form Jehovah of hosts, which we find 
first used near the time of David. This term was the 
star of hope that cheered the believing Hebrew in the 
dark days preceding and following the captivity of 
Babylon. It is found seventy-four times in the 
prophecies of Jeremiah, as though in those dark days, 
when there was so little to cheer in the condition or 
prospect of the people themselves, he turned their 
thoughts more completely to him who is the same, 
yesterday and to-day and forever. Zechariah in his 



40 The Rod That Budded 



fourteen short chapters uses it fifty-three times; 
Haggai in two short chapters, thirteen times; Mal- 
achi, twenty-four times. The name "blooms in its 
greatest beauty and strength in the last prophets. It 
has no such appearance as a tree that has finished its 
growth and is ready to wither. It has the appear- 
ance, in these last prophets, of lights thickly set along 
the shore at eventide. It is as the sound of many 
voices heard along the shore, and all uttering a cheer- 
ful and hopeful good-night. The night swings round 
and the shore of the New Testament becomes visible 
on the other side of the river, and there the similar 
terms, Lord Jesus, and Jesus Christ, are the morning 
lights scattered about as thickly as the term Jehovah 
of hosts on the farther shore. And they are like so 
many voices on a new shore, or rising from a new 
generation, saying, 'Hail to the morning!' and their 
good-morning is in blessed harmony with the good- 
night that has sounded along the farther shore." * 

Have we wrested or strained the Scriptures in say- 
ing that the bush out of which God revealed his 
essential name was a symbol of the tree of life? 

When we pass over to the later revelation of his 
will we find one in whom the symbolism of that tree 
had a gracious fulfillment. Like the bush that 
burned, his outward form was lowly, but in him 
dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. Jesus 
proclaimed himself the eternal I AM. When the 
Jews said to him, "Thou art not yet fifty years old, 



♦"Luminous Unity," by the late Matthew R. Miller, D.D. 



The Bush That Burned 41 

and hast thou seen Abraham ?" this was his reply, 
"Before Abraham was I AM." Once when he spoke 
these words to his enemies there was such a gleaming 
forth of his eternal power that they rendered un- 
willing homage to him. When he asked them at the 
garden gate, "Whom seek ye?" they replied, "Jesus 
of Nazareth." When he said to them, "I am he" (lit- 
erally I AM) they all went backward and fell to the 
ground — a token of the power that will shine forth 
from his name at his appearing and glory. To his 
followers this essential name was always linked with 
merciful revelations of grace. "I am the bread of 
life," "I am the door," "I am the Good Shepherd," 
"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." Have we 
not in him a gracious fulfillment of all that was sym- 
bolized by the tree of life? "This is the record, that 
God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in 
his Son." 

Moses never forgot the scene which arrested his 
attention that day at the foot of Mt. Horeb. Forty 
years later, when he knew that he must go the way of 
all the earth, he invoked upon the tribe of Joseph 
"the good w T ill of him who dwelt in the bush." He 
had well-nigh exhausted the imagery of earth and 
heaven in calling down benedictions upon that fa- 
vored tribe. "And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the 
Lord be his land, for the precious things of heaven, 
for the dew, and for the deep that croucheth beneath, 
and for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, 
and for the precious things put forth by the moon, 
and for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and 



42 The Rod That Budded 



for the precious things of the lasting hills, and for 
the precious things of the earth and the fulness 
thereof" — a benediction which had a remarkable ful- 
fillment. The portions of the promised land that fell 
by lot to the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh were 
wonderfully fertile. Ephraim's lot included Shechem 
and Samaria and the fat valleys by which they are 
surrounded. The lot of Manasseh included the fer- 
tile plains in the vicinity of Dothan, as if in compen- 
sation for the wrong Joseph there suffered at the 
hands of his brothers, and portions of the Plain of 
Jezreel, whose fertility made it the battleground of 
the nations. Manasseh's territory east of the Jor- 
dan included the great wheat fields of Bashan, the 
Hauran, which to-day supplies grain for many of the 
great markets of the East. But for all this, the de- 
scendants of Joseph would have been poor indeed, 
had they not enjoyed the favor of him who rightfully 
claims the earth and its fulness as his own. Moses 
invoked for them the nether springs of worldly pros- 
perity, now he seeks also the upper springs of divine 
favor — "the good will of him who dwelt in the bush." 

Fifteen hundred years after Moses saw that great 
sight at Horeb, another company of shepherds were 
startled by a light which must have equalled in 
brightness that which shone from the burning bush. 
While they beheld in wonder, an angel appeared to 
them with the gracious message, "Fear not, behold 
I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be 
to all people; for unto you is born this day, in the 
city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." 



The Bush That Burned 43 



And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude 
of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, 
good will to men." What was the song of the angels 
but a renewed proclamation of the good will of him 
who dwelt in the bush? And listen to the words 
which fell from the lips of him whose birth the angels 
announced to the shepherds of Bethlehem: "Come 
unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I 
will give you rest." Heavier than any borne by He- 
brew slaves in Egypt are the burdens under which the 
sons and daughters of men groan while in the service 
of sin, for "the wages of sin is death." More griev- 
ous than the yoke of the Egyptian oppressor is the 
yoke of him who promises pleasure and profit, but 
pays in bitter disappointment and endless death. But 
he who bids us come unto him promises rest from all 
burdens. He has broken the yoke of the oppressor 
and deceiver, and offers to substitute his light and 
easy yoke. Listen again : "Him that cometh unto me 
I will in no wise cast out." Then there is the "I 
will" of cleansing and forgiveness, spoken to one who 
was shut out from the society of the accepted ones. 
When the man full of leprosy cried out, "Lord, if 
thou wilt thou canst make me clean," the gracious 
answer was, "I will ; be thou clean." There is also 
the "I will" of confession. "Whosoever shall con- 
fess me before men, him will I confess before my 
Father who is in heaven" — a greater boon than 
Joseph granted his father and brothers by acknowl- 
edging them before Pharaoh and securing for them 



44 The Rod That Budded 



a dwelling place in Egypt. Closely allied to this is 
our Lord's "I will" of gracious purpose. Listen to 
his pleadings on behalf of his redeemed ones in his 
intercessory prayer: "Father, I will that they also 
whom thou hast given me be with me where I am ; 
that they may behold my glory which thou hast given 
me." Not in some distant part of the heavenly land, 
far removed from his throne and glory, will the in- 
heritance of the ransomed ones be found, but in the 
immediate presence of their Lord, beholding his face, 
hearing his words, and walking ever in the light of 
his countenance. He even promises to make them 
sharers of his throne, for again his promise is, "To 
him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in 
my throne, even as I also overcame and am set down 
with my Father in his throne." 

Is it not worth while to enjoy "the good will of 
him that dwelt in the bush ?" Is not this life more 
abundant? 



CHAPTER V. 



BURNING, BUT NOT CONSUMED 

"I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush 
is not burned." — Exodus 3 : 3. 

IT was truly a "great sight" which Moses saw that 
day at the foot of Horeb. Not greater in its 
mystery was the sight of that whole mountain 
burning with fire when God came down to give his 
law in the presence of the people, when even Moses 
said, "I exceedingly fear and quake." Our God is 
a consuming fire, and nothing is easier for him than 
to kindle great conflagrations by which matter is dis- 
solved and the elements melted with fervent heat. 
"He looketh on the earth and it trembleth, he touch- 
eth the hills and they smoke." But that a flame should 
be kindled among the leaves and branches of the wild 
thorn bush and yet not consume it — this was a marvel 
indeed. 

Bible expositors and ecclesiastical historians have 
found a parallel in this great sight which attracted 
the attention of Moses and the Church in times of 
persecution and trial. At such times it may well be 
compared to the lowly thorn bush — small, and weak, 
and despised, yet all the cruelty of men and demons 



46 The Rod That Budded 



has not been able to destroy it. The Church of Scot- 
land fittingly employs the burning bush as her em- 
blem, surrounded by the legend, Sed tamen consume- 
batar — "but not consumed." 

May we not find another interpretation and appli- 
cation of this emblem? If it be not amiss to see in 
the bush that burned a symbol of the tree of life be- 
cause out of it spoke the Ever-living, Self-existent 
One in words of grace and life, why may we not 
see in the bush itself a symbol of the humanity of 
our Lord, in whom dwelt all the fulness of the 
Godhead bodily and through whom came grace 
and truth? It was foretold of him, "He shall 
grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a 
root out of a dry ground ; he hath no form nor come- 
liness ; and when we shall see him there is no beauty 
that we should desire him." All the predictions con- 
cerning the lowliness of the promised Redeemer had 
their fulfillment in Jesus of Nazareth who was born 
in Bethlehem and through all his earthly years was 
despised of men. The Messiah was to spring forth 
as a rod out of the stem of Jesse and as a branch out 
of his roots — when the house of David was cut down 
to the ground. And surely his house and lineage 
were greatly reduced at the time of the birth of 
Mary's Son. May not his humanity be fitly com- 
pared to the lowly bush which Moses saw at Horeb ? 

May we not well say with Moses, "I will now turn 
aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not 
burned?" The life of our Lord was a life of trial 
and suffering, yet he was not crushed nor consumed 



Burning, but not Consumed 47 



by all that was laid upon him.. There was no element 
in the cup of human bitterness of which he did not 
taste. He knew well the meaning of bodily weari- 
ness, hunger and thirst. He experienced the bitter- 
ness of disappointment — especially the turning of 
professed friendship into indifference and even 
enmity. If it be true that "it is better to bury a friend 
than to bury a friendship," Jesus knew well the pang 
of grief caused by the fickleness of those who profess 
love and loyalty, but who prove wanting in the hour 
of sorest need. There is an inexpressible pathos in 
the queries, "Will ye also go away?" "Have not I 
chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?" 
"Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?" 

Jesus suffered in his temptations. The very holi- 
ness of his nature rendered his sufferings from that 
cause the more poignant. He to whom the very 
thought of sin was abhorrent must have suffered in- 
expressibly when the suggestion that he should trans- 
gress was thrust upon him. This was one part of the 
wine-press which he must tread alone. The very per- 
fection of his character and conduct gave to his life 
a solitariness which we cannot comprehend. There 
is a loneliness of spirit which is harder to be borne 
than separation by distance from human friends. 
There are times when hands clasp our hands, but only 
to send the chill of an unsympathizing indifference 
through our whole being. There are times when 
eyes look into our eyes, but there is no communion 
of soul with soul. Such an isolation our Lord con- 
tinually suffered through the very loftiness and holi- 



48 The Rod That Budded 



ness of his being. The very places and circumstances 
in which he met his great temptations are suggestive 
of this loneliness of spirit. Our first parents fought 
and lost their great battle amid the luxuries of the 
garden, with all the lower orders subject to their will, 
ready to minister to their needs. Our Lord fought 
his single-handed combats in the desolate wilderness, 
with the wild beasts as his only earthly companions. 

Jesus suffered the misunderstanding of friends and 
the grossest misrepresentation of foes. It is always 
hard to have our kindest, most thoughtful words and 
deeds misunderstood by those whom we are anxious 
to serve and please. Such a trial our Lord continu- 
ally experienced. His tarrying in the temple was 
misunderstood by his mother, who administered a 
measure of rebuke for the anxiety she and Joseph 
had suffered. Even within a few months of his cru- 
cifixion his own brethren did not believe him, and 
kept urging him to go forward and assume Messianic 
power and thus to set their doubts at rest. How con- 
stantly he was being misunderstood by the twelve — 
men whom he had chosen to be with him that he 
might leave them as his representatives in the world ! 
How often all prospect of their understanding his 
mission seemed altogether hopeless. And what shall 
we say of the gross misconception of his mission by 
unbelieving multitudes and by the rulers of the Jews. 
He was called a madman, a usurper, Beelzebub, the 
prince of demons, a seditious man, a Sabbath- 
breaker, a blasphemer, the worst of malefactors, a 
traitor against God and man. The very silence with 



Burning, but not Consumed 49 

which he bore their false accusations was tor- 
tured into a confession of guilt. His calm and 
holy trust in God was made the subject of loudest 
derision. He was taunted in the hour of his deepest 
sufferings with the very patience which held back the 
lightning stroke of deserved judgment. 

Our Lord suffered deeply the shame and calumny 
which were heaped upon him. He was not so exalted 
in the sublimity of his nature that the shafts of envy 
and enmity could not enter his soul. He was not so 
self-contained in the consciousness of his own integ- 
rity and the approving smile of his Father as to be 
indifferent to the slanders which fell upon his ear. 
The very holiness of his being rendered him all the 
more sensitive to the false opinions and declarations 
of men. He who hides his trusting ones in his secret 
pavilion from the strife of tongues himself found 
them sharper than knives and keener than two-edged 
swords. Their false, malicious words pierced him 
through and through. He more than all who have 
suffered from the envenomed tongues of men could 
say, "Reproach hath broke my heart." 

When we attempt to analyze too keenly the suffer- 
ings of our Lord, when we attempt to gaze into his 
heart of hearts and read the anguish which we find 
written there, we hear the same voice which spoke 
to Moses out of the bush, "Draw not nigh hither; 
put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place 
whereon thou standest is holy ground." Into the 
deeper shades of the garden of suffering our Lord 
was drawn on the night of his agony. He went a 



50 The Rod That Budded 



little further into its shadows than any of his dis- 
ciples, and oh, how much deeper into the shades of 
suffering and sorrow than human lives, have ever 
known. "No one has ever suffered as I am suffer- 
ing/' groaned a distracted patient in a hospital ward. 

"There was One," answered a quiet voice from the 
next cot. 

"But no one knows how deeply I suffer." 

"There is One," answered the same gentle voice. 

And no matter how deep the pain of our bodies or 
the anguish of our souls, Jesus went farther and 
deeper into the shades of suffering and sorrow. How 
inexpressible the strong crying and tears of Gethsem- 
ane! How unparalleled the bloody sweat which 
broke from his benign, blessed face! 

We make no attempt to picture the miseries of the 
night of mockery and trial, the journey to Calvary, 
nor the tortures of crucifixion. How lightly we 
often speak of those sufferings ! Sometimes we even 
thoughtlessly claim to have passed through agonies 
similar to those of Golgotha. "My sufferings were 
simply excruciating!" we sometimes say, not stop- 
ping to think that the word we have employed means 
nothing less than that our pain has been like that 
endured on the cross. Over the last hours of the 
agony the veil of darkness was drawn, as the solemn 
atonement was made behind the veil of tabernacle 
or temple. But the cry of desertion on the cross, "My 
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" reminds 
us that "the sufferings of his soul were the soul of 
his sufferings." It was as though the Sufferer had 



Burning, but not Consumed 51 

said, "It was hard enough to bear the betrayal of the 
traitor, the denial of the rock-man, the being for- 
saken by friends and followers; but that thou, my 
Father and my God, shouldest hide thy face — why 
hast thou forsaken me?" 

The bush burned, yet it was not consumed. Sus- 
tained by his divine personality, the human form bore 
to the end the load of suffering that was laid upon it. 
There was no failure, no breaking down with life's 
mission unfulfilled. He endured until upon the cross 
he could say victoriously, "It is finished," and then 
calmly, confidently yielded up his spirit to the Father's 
hand. Is not the fact that his humanity was sus- 
tained by the divinity one thought of the apostle in 
Hebrews 9:14: "How much more shall the blood of 
Christ, who through the Eternal Spirit offered him- 
self without spot to God, purge your consciences from 
dead works to serve the living God ?" Had our Lord 
been a mere creature he never could have borne the 
penalty due unto the sins of the world. When God 
merely corrects man for his iniquity, with fatherly 
chastisements, he wastes his beauty like the moth. 
How then could a mere creature endure the wrath 
due to a sinful world? Only because he was the 
eternal, Self-existent One was our Redeemer not con- 
sumed by the flames that kindled upon him. 

Here is truly a great sight which one may well 
turn aside to see — the humanity of our Lord burning 
in the fierce furnace of suffering, yet not consumed. 
It was only thus that he could become the tree of life 
to a dead world. The corn of wheat must fall into 



52 The Rod That Budded 



the ground and die, or it abideth alone. Our Kins- 
man Redeemer must come under the power of death, 
or he could not become the bread of life to those who 
were famishing. The rock must be smitten, or the 
waters of life would not gush forth. He must be able 
to say, "I am he that liveth and was dead," or he 
could not impart life to those who are dead. He 
must cry upon the cross, "I thirst," or he could not 
offer to any the saving, satisfying waters of life eter- 
nal. The Son of man must be lifted up, or a dying 
world could not look to him and live. 

The attention of Moses was at first drawn to the 
burning bush through awakened curiosity, but curi- 
osity deepened into reverence, and reverence into a 
personal, appropriating faith, a faith which not only 
ministered unto the life of him who exercised it, but 
resulted in new life and liberty to a race of bondsmen. 
His turning aside to see this great sight was re- 
warded far beyond his expectation. So is it with all 
who turn aside from a busy world's distractions and 
fix an adoring gaze upon the greatest sight the eye 
of man has ever witnessed — the humanity of our 
Kinsman Redeemer enduring the sufferings of the 
cross that he might impart life to the dead. Turning 
aside to see the great sight at Horeb, Moses came to 
know the God of his fathers as he had never known 
him before. He heard of him with the hearing of the 
ear, but now his eyes beheld the tokens of his pres- 
ence, his ears heard gracious messages from his own 
lips. Turning aside to see the world's greatest sight 
— the bush that burned on Calvary but was not con- 



Burning, but not Consumed 53 

sumed — we come to know God as our gracious Father 
and hear his words of pardon, peace and love. The 
message which is sounded forth from Calvary is, 
"Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the 
earth ; for I am God and there is none else." He who 
speaks out of the burning bush is not only the Living ; 
it is he who liveth and was dead, and those who look 
unto him shall live. 

"There is life for a look at the Crucified One." 
When the Hebrews were dying from the poison of 
the fiery serpents, they were directed to look upon the 
serpent of brass which Moses had set up on a pole. 
"And it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any 
man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived." 
Looking upon the fruit of the forbidden tree, our 
first parents plucked, and ate, and died. Looking 
upon the fruit on the tree of life that has been planted 
anew upon the earth, we are led to eat and live. 
"For as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, 
even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that who- 
soever believeth in him might not perish, but have 
eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave 
his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in 
him should not perish, but have eternal life." 

Moses had a new life from the time he saw the 
vision of the burning bush. He had known God 
before, had boldly dared and suffered for him, but at 
the burning bush he had a new vision of God and 
went forth to dare and suffer more than ever before. 
This is what every life needs — such a vision of God 
as can be had only when we stand beneath the cross 



54 The Rod That Budded 



of the Crucified One and read the expression of di- 
vine love which can there only be seen. How can 
one look upon that wondrous revelation of love and 
then go back to the old sordid and selfish life? How 
can one have this vision of God, and not become a 
new creature? 

In the fourth Gospel Jesus is emphatically pre- 
sented as the giver of the new life. The imagery 
employed by its writer follows closely that by which 
God revealed himself to his chosen people during 
their wilderness experiences. In the third chapter he 
is compared to the brazen serpent ; in the fourth and 
seventh, to the water which gushed from the smitten 
rock; in the sixth, to the manna which supported a 
great host for forty years ; in the eighth to the flame 
that shone out from the bush, or the fiery cloud that 
guided the host through the wilderness. All such 
comparisons declare emphatically that Jesus is the 
Living One, who spoke out of the burning bush, the 
One who was in the beginning with God, and who 
was the living God. The great purpose for which 
John wrote his Gospel was that "ye might believe 
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God ; that believ- 
ing ye might have life through his name." 



CHAPTER VI. 



BARRIERS BURNED AWAY. 



"Yet doth he devise means that his banished be not ex- 
pelled from him." — 2 Samuel 14: 14. 



HIS was the strongest plea of the woman of 



Tekoa for the restoration of Absalom to his 



royal father's favor. She could have employed 
no stronger. God had forgiven the greater debt and 
received the king into his gracious favor. Should 
he refuse to be reconciled to his son who had lifted 
a murderous hand against a brother? It is the argu- 
ment employed in the Gospel of love for the exercise 
of the spirit of forgiveness one to another. If we 
have been forgiven the ten thousand talents, shall we 
seize by the throat our fellow servant who owes the 
few pence and demand immediate payment or the 
prison ? 

Over the entrance to the prison on Blackwell's Isl- 
and there was formerly the disheartening inscription, 
"Abandon hope, all ye who enter here." Recently 
there was substituted for this the line, "The way of 
transgressors is hard" — hard, but not hopeless. So 
long as the open Bible lies before us, no living soul 
need despair of the mercy of God. For "he doth de- 




56 The Rod That Budded 



vise means that his banished be not expelled from 
him." 

Long after the woman of Tekoa employed this 
plea for Absalom's restoration to royal favor, a 
prophet inquired, '"Wherewith shall I come before 
the Lord, and bow myself before the high God?" to 
which answer is made, "He hath shewed thee, O 
man, what is good." Some seem to understand this 
answer to refer to what immediately follows : "And 
what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, 
and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy 
God." But is it not more in harmony with other 
Bible teachings and with the structure of these sen- 
tences themselves to understand the first part of the 
prophet's answer to refer to the Gospel message 
which was foreshadowed by type and prophecy — the 
way of approach through the better sacrifice which 
should be made when the Messiah came? What is the 
Gospel but that which is good — the good news, the 
glad tidings of salvation through a gracious Re- 
deemer ? This answer was not designed for the He- 
brews only, but for the race universal. "He hath 
shewed thee, O man" — O Adam, as the Hebrew is, 
the representative of all mankind. Even at the gar- 
den gate a way of return was intimated, and the light 
grew clearer as the dawning of the promised day 
drew nearer. And what but the Gospel can consti- 
tute a basis for the superstructure of the moral re- 
quirements that follow : "And what doth the Lord re- 
quire of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and 
to walk humbly with thy God ?" How can you "do 



Barriers Burned Away 57 



justly' ' until you have found the answer to the ques- 
tion, "How can a man be just with God?" We must 
first be made just in our standing before God ere we 
can become just in principle or practice. How can 
you "love mercy" until you have become the subject 
of pardoning, redeeming mercy yourself ? How can 
you "walk humbly with thy God" until there has been 
an at-one-ment made between you and God, for how 
can two walk together except they be agreed? 

He hath showed thee, O man, what is good. He 
doth devise means that his banished be not expelled 
from him. First of all he has devised means by 
which the obstacle of man's guilt has been put away. 
But for this, conscience-stricken man could never 
have drawn near to a holy and righteous God. The 
sentence had gone forth, "The soul that sinneth it 
shall die." "In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt 
surely die." As unchangeable and invariable as the 
laws of the material universe are the laws of the 
moral and spiritual world. The invariableness of 
law is the great stumbling-block of many which pre- 
vents their believing in a revealed religion. The re- 
ligion of Jesus Christ calls for belief in certain stu- 
pendous miracles, which, say the objectors, required 
a suspension of established, invariable laws. This, 
they say again, is contrary to nature, and therefore 
they cannot believe the Gospel without doing violence 
to the constitution of their minds. But there is a dis- 
tinction between a suspension of law and interven- 
tion to prevent its operation. A boat gliding down 
the rapids above Niagara Falls would certainly be 



58 The Rod That Budded 



borne over the cataract by the invariable law of 
gravitation. But there is a timely intervention to 
prevent the disastrous consequences of that change- 
less, relentless law. A rope is thrown from the shore, 
is seized by the occupants of the boat and securely 
fastened to it. Then by a force greater than that of 
the resistless current the craft is drawn shoreward 
and the imperilled lives are saved from an untimely 
death. Man is continually intervening to prevent 
the natural application of law. The intervention of 
a superior force enables the railway engine to carry 
the heavy train up the steep mountain grade, instead 
of allowing it to rush down the declivity to certain 
demolition. The application of the expansive power 
of the lighter gases carries the air-ship or balloon into 
the region of clouds, introducing a new force which 
resists and overcomes the power of gravitation. 
Most of man's conquests over material things have 
been achieved through the application of a superior, 
intervening power. And shall we deny to him who 
created all things the power to introduce the energy 
by which marvelous results are brought about ? Can 
the watchmaker repair and regulate its movements 
and can the Almighty Creator not repair and regulate 
the waste in his great universe ? 

In the realm of morals law is as inexorable and 
invariable as in the world of matter. "The wages of 
sin is death/' is a law as certain and universal in its 
application as is the law of gravitation. Not even the 
boundless mercy of God can nullify or render obso- 
lete that law. Jesus Christ did not come to destroy 



Barriers Burned Away 59 



the law ; he came to fulfill. He did not suffer in order 
that law might be relaxed and less than its full obli- 
gations be demanded. He came to fulfill the law, to 
magnify it and make it honorable. He came to bear 
in his own body the penalty of sin due unto those who 
flee unto them, and thus provide them a refuge from 
deserved punishment. 

There is, if we mistake not, much false sentiment 
in our days concerning the effect of the cross of 
Christ upon the law of God. Who that listens 
thoughtfully to the cry of suffering that comes from 
Gethsemane or Golgotha can long cherish the idea 
that law was relaxed by his becoming our sin-bearer ? 
If there was any one for whose sake law could have 
been relaxed, it would have been for the sake of him 
of whom the Father said, "This is my beloved Son 
in whom I am well pleased." God spared not his own 
Son when the sins of a guilty world were laid upon 
him. How then can he spare the impenitent and the 
ungodly ? 

While Jesus did not come to relax law, he did come 
to fulfill its obligations on behalf of those who accept 
him and thus to give them a merit in which to stand 
before God. He takes all who trust in him into part- 
nership, covenanting to bear their guilt and share 
with them his own righteousness. We may conceive 
of the covenant bond reading thus : "We, or either of 
us, do promise to pay," and since the principal cannot 
meet his obligations they fall in full measure upon the 
Surety. His language to Law and Justice is that of 
Paul to Philemon concerning the slave Onesimus, 



6o The Rod That Budded 



"If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put 
that on my account." Jesus did not, could not, nullify 
the operation of law. He received its penalty into 
his own being when he made his soul an offering for 
sin. "Christ once suffered, the just for the unjust, 
that he might bring us to God." We who were once 
afar off are brought nigh by the blood of the cross. 

Guilt is not the only barrier to fallen man's return 
unto God. There are three great obstacles to be over- 
come — Distance, Debt and Disinclination. The first 
of these was overcome by the incarnation, the second 
by the atonement, and the third by regeneration and 
sanctification. When the Eternal Son of God became 
the Son of man he bridged the measureless chasm 
between fallen man and his Creator. When he cried 
on the cross, "It is finished," he put out of the way 
the mountain of our guilt. But the third obstacle 
still remains — the stubbornness and obduracy of 
man's heart, his unwillingness to accept salvation 
when it is freely offered. This obstacle is overcome 
when the Holy Spirit — Christ's Other Self — subdues 
the hard heart and makes it willing in the day of his 
power. There was needed, not only the kindling of 
the fire when our Sacrifice was laid upon the altar, 
but the baptism with the Holy Ghost and with fire, 
that the hardness of the sinner's heart may be over- 
come. This was the great truth taught by Zecha- 
riah's vision of the candlestick and the olive trees: 
"Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith 
the Lord of hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain ? 
before Zerubbabel thou shait become a plain." The 



Barriers Burned Away 61 



gracious operations of the Holy Spirit are an essen- 
tial part of the means God has devised for bringing 
home his banished. 

He has also devised instrumental means by which 
the call to return is sounded in the sinner's ear, and 
by which he may draw near unto God. These are 
such means as the reading and preaching of the word, 
prayer and the sacraments, all of which are made ef- 
fectual to salvation by the Holy Spirit. The word of 
truth brings home the banished by extending the call 
of mercy and by showing the way of return. A 
mother whose daughter had wandered far from the 
path of virtue longed to receive her with open arms 
of welcome. She therefore sent to her a photograph 
of herself, and under it, written by her own hand, the 
message, "Mary, come home." What but this is the 
entire word of God ? We find in it, from Genesis to 
Revelation, a revelation of the Father's gracious 
character — the tender compassion with which he 
yearns over his wandering children, and under these 
pictures the gracious, hearty invitation, "My child of 
sin and sorrow, come home, come homer' 

The Church and its ordinances are some of the 
means which God has devised for bringing home his 
banished ones. There was a beautiful significance in 
the old name given in country places to the house of 
worship — "The meeting house." It is not merely 
a place where the worshipers meet together, but es- 
pecially where they meet with God and hear his voice. 
The child Samuel was in the house of the Lord when 
he heard the voice of the Lord. So has it been with 



62 The Rod That Budded 



the greater number of those who have heard his voice 
and lived. 

God sometimes uses providential means by which 
to emphasize the call of mercy. He sometimes re- 
moves our earthly confidences that we may know the 
need of his all-gracious arm. He allows the heart 
that had grown sick of home to become home-sick for 
his mercy and love through the destitution and degra- 
dation which came to him in the far-away land. The 
providences by which he blights earthly hopes are as 
truly an expression of his love as are the most tender 
invitations of the Gospel. When Joab would not 
come to Absalom, he set fire to his barley field and 
soon a meeting was brought about. Sometimes the 
very blessings God bestows upon men become bar- 
riers to prevent their seeing and enjoying his gra- 
cious presence. Jesus said to the rich young ruler, 
"Sell all that thou hast and give to the poor, and 
come and follow me." Our Lord wants the whole 
heart of those who would become his followers, and 
when idols are enthroned in the heart they must be 
cast away. Manasseh had no room for God in his 
life while he sat upon the throne, but when he was 
taken captive among the thorns his heart turned to 
the source of all life and blessing. Out of the cloud 
which gathered over the three disciples on the mount 
came a voice, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am 
well pleased ; hear him." And out of every cloud of 
sorrow or anxiety that gathers over our hearts or 
homes comes a voice, which is also the voice of the 
Father. The cloud proclaims his nearness and gra- 



f 

Barriers Burned Away 63 

ciousness — not his wrath or unwillingness to bless 
us. As a father returned to his home one day at the 
noon hour, his little daughter ran out to meet him. As 
he bent down to kiss her upturned lips, his shadow fell 
over her little form. That shadow was not a sign of 
anger ; it was caused by his bending down to give her 
a token of her love. So is it with the shadows which 
gather over our hearts. They are tokens of our 
Father's nearness. He is bending down to kiss us 
with the kisses of his love. At such times we should 
hear his voice when he bids us hear his Son for sal- 
vation, for strength, for comfort and peace. 

The message which came to Mary of Bethany after 
the death of her brother was, "The Master is come 
and calleth for thee." As soon as Mary heard that, 
she arose quickly and came unto him. She did not 
regret her going to him with her burden of sorrow. 
Both his pity and his power were exercised to give 
her beauty for ashes, the garment of praise for the 
spirit of heaviness. We will always find it worth 
while to come near to him when he calls. 



CHAPTER VII. 



THE TREE OF WISDOM 

"She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her; and 
happy is every one that retaineth her." — Proverbs 3 : 18. 

ASPIRING to taste of greater knowledge and 
happiness, our first parents ate of the for- 
bidden tree. It was a tree of knowledge, but 
only guilty knowledge of the distinction between 
good and evil. "In the day ye eat thereof, your eyes 
shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing 
good and evil." So said the wily tempter, and 
they believed his false words rather than the words 
of their loving Father and Creator, "In the day thou 
eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." In the mo- 
ment of their disobedience, as in the act of other 
transgressions, there may have been a wild delirium 
of joy, a coming into a new experience like that of 
such indulgences as make one feel himself alive and 
say, "This is pleasure such as makes life worth the 
living." For he who indulges in forbidden pleas- 
ures often flatters himself that he has been lifted up 
into a measure of knowledge and life that seems to 
make quiet obedience dull, plodding existence. But 
if there were moments of such delirium following the 



The Tree of Wisdom 65 



first act of transgression, they were quickly followed 
by an overwhelming sense of guilt and shame. Their 
eating the forbidden fruit had brought with it a 
knowledge — but only the knowledge that they had 
placed themselves outside the circle of covenant 
blessings, that they had forfeited life and all its law- 
ful pleasures, and made themselves the subjects of 
divine wrath — the knowledge of a holy nature tar- 
nished and perverted, of affections alienated, of peace 
destroyed, of privileges forfeited, of hopes blighted, 
of wrath incurred. With the gratification of the 
guilty desire, there came a darkening of the under- 
standing, an estrangement of the affections from him 
who was the sum of all good, an awakening of fears 
that drove them to attempt to hide from his presence. 
There was an opening of the eyes, but only to a sight 
and sense of their own folly, helplessness, guilt and 
shame. 

In the consequences of the first transgression we 
see a picture of every attempt to attain knowledge in- 
dependent of God, and especially by going contrary 
to his holy will. Whatever reaches the human intel- 
lect has made without God, the final result has been 
the lowering of man himself. The fruit of every tree 
of knowledge which obscures the living God proves 
to be but apples of Sodom, yielding only disappoint- 
ment and death. Every system of philosophy which 
denies or dethrones God in the end degrades and de- 
bases those who accept it. This was the course of 
ancient nations which did not like to retain God in 
their knowledge. There was a continually descend- 



66 The Rod That Budded 



ing scale in their thoughts and standards of living. 
"They changed the glory of the incorruptible God 
into an image made like unto corruptible man, and 
to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things" 
— followed by that which was most degraded and 
degrading in their lives. 

Over against the failure of mankind to find life by 
partaking of the tree of the knowledge of good and 
evil stands this declaration of Holy Wisdom : "She 
is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her." The 
way to the tree of life in the garden at Eden was 
barred, but it has been planted anew upon the earth, 
and all are invited to partake of its fruits. Her 
voice may be heard, clear and distinct, "Unto you, O 
men, I call, and my voice is unto the sons of men. . . . 
My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold, and 
my revenue than choice silver. . . . For whoso 
findeth me findeth life." 

Over the gateway to the garden in which this tree 
is found growing is this double inscription, "The fear 
of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge," "The 
fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." 
Whether we regard these words as interchangeable 
or distinct, we have in them the indispensable condi- 
tion of arriving at true knowledge or wisdom. When 
the scientist makes an experiment by which he hopes 
to be let into nature's secrets, he is careful to make 
it strictly according to the laws which govern that 
part of the material kingdom. And if we would par- 
take of that wisdom which yields life as its fruitage, 
we must conform ourselves to the conditions which 



The Tree of Wisdom 67 

the Father of wisdom has enacted — not arbitrary- 
conditions, but such as are essential to the end sought. 
In this fundamental law three distinct ideas are ex- 
pressed : 

First, the search after wisdom must be conducted 
in the reverential, humble spirit. Wisdom, even if 
the most earthly kind, flees from him who pursues 
it in a proud, self-satisfied spirit. Coleridge used to 
say, 'There is no chance of finding truth at the end 
of the goal where there is not childlike simplicity at 
the start." The self-satisfied soul will not seek ear- 
nestly for increased light. It has no hungering and 
thirsting after the truth. Such souls can never make 
any noble attainments unless they are essentially 
transformed. The gates of wisdom and knowledge 
open only in answer to the knock of reverence and 
humility. The child feels itself less wise than the 
father, and therefore it delights to ask him questions. 
And when we begin to realize our darkness and igno- 
rance then will we begin to seek that wisdom whose 
fruit is life. Those who have made the greatest at- 
tainments have been men of the spirit of Newton, 
who compared himself to a child gathering a few 
pebbles on the boundless shore. Most essential is 
this spirit in the search after that truth which makes 
wise unto salvation. 

These words teach also the necessity of belief in 
and reverence for a personal God. They require 
more than a recognition of the tpighty powers of the 
universe. There is no room for materialism or pan- 
theism in the heart-creed of those who seek the wis- 



68 The Rod That Budded 



dom which is as a tree of life. The same Book which 
tells of man s forfeiture of the right to that tree 
teaches unmistakably the doctrine of a personal God 
who created and who now controls all things. Its 
opening words — "In the beginning God" — assume 
the fact of his existence, and this fact accounts for 
the marvelous deeds recorded in the later pages of 
the book. For when we admit the existence of a God 
who was able to create the universe, why should we 
stumble at any of the marvels recorded in the Bible? 
Man's heart cannot be satisfied with the belief in the 
impersonal powers of the universe as the highest ob- 
ject of reverence. It craves the knowledge of a per- 
sonal God — one who has a personal knowledge of his 
creatures, one who can pity, love and help. Imper- 
sonal nature cannot satisfy these innate cravings. 
Man's soul thirsts for God, for the living God, and 
cannot be satisfied without him. 

These words go farther and teach the necessity 
of belief in the God of the Bible as a fundamental 
condition of attaining that wisdom which is as a tree 
of life. "The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of 
wisdom" — so the literal rendering is. It will not do 
to say that it matters not whether one believes in 
Jehovah or Jupiter, if his belief be only sincere. 
Among the worshipers of all heathen divinities 
there have been multitudes who were profoundly sin- 
cere, but their sincerity did not save them from the 
degradation which overtook the devotees of false sys- 
tems. It is Jehovah, the God of salvation, of whom 
it is said, "The secret of the Lord is with them that 



The Tree of Wisdom 69 



fear him, and he will show them his salvation." It 
is Jehovah, the God of revelation and salvation, who 
says, "I will instruct and teach thee in the way which 
thou shalt go ; I will guide thee with mine eye." He 
is the God who has revealed his matchless love and 
grace to our fallen race. The very riches of his grace 
and the greatness of his condescension are to some a 
hindrance to faith. "Can it be," they inquire, "that 
the Creator would lavish such care on the unworthy 
inhabitants of one of the smaller worlds in his great 
universe?" But those who are led to know his fath- 
erly character and who come to him in childlike sim- 
plicity find no obstacle to their faith in such contem- 
plations. They are filled with amazement at the 
thought, and are ready to say with the great apostle, 
"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and 
knowledge of God ! how unsearchable are his judg- 
ments, and his ways past finding out." But the great- 
ness of his mercy does not stagger their faith. It 
finds its explanation in the answer of a little child 
who when asked if she did not think it impossible for 
God to so love the world as to give his only Son for 
its redemption, replied: 

"No, it is just like our God to love like that." 

It has always been true that Wisdom has hid her 
greatest secrets from the wise and prudent and has 
revealed them unto babes. She is to be found of them 
that humbly seek for her. She says, "My delights 
are with the sons of men." She has a ready response 
for those who watch daily at her doors. 

The representation of Wisdom as a tree of life 



yo The Rod That Budded 



again leads us to the Lord Jesus Christ. Scholars tell 
us that there is a close connection, in philosophic 
thought, between the Wisdom of the Proverbs and 
the Logos, or Word, of the fourth Gospel, the re- 
vealer of the eternal purpose of God. This is the 
Logos which we are told "was made flesh and dwelt 
among us." He is the Truth, the revealer of God, 
the sum and source of all wisdom. Grace and truth 
came by Jesus Christ. He is the revealer of the 
Fatherhood of God. "No man hath seen God at any 
time, the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of 
the Father, he hath declared him." When Philip 
said, "Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us/' 
Jesus answered, "Have I been so long time with you, 
and hast thou not seen me, Philip? He that hath 
seen me hath seen the Father." Jesus is the bright- 
ness of the Father's glory, the express image of his 
person. No man can come to God as to a Father un- 
less he come through Jesus Christ, the Way, the 
Truth and the Life. He of God is made unto 
us wisdom. In him are hid all the treasures of 
wisdom and knowledge. It is through him alone 
that man comes to know the Fatherhood of God, 
and the grace and mercy he is ready to be- 
stow. In coming to know him as thus revealed man 
draws near to him of whose presence the tree of life 
was merely the outward symbol. He is the Truth — 
not a mere shadow, as were the types and ceremonies, 
but the living eternal reality who alone can truly 
satisfy the soul. 

Those who sit humbly and reverently at his feet 



The Tree of Wisdom 71 



are made partakers of his own gracious fulness. He 
himself bids us ask, seek, knock. When in response 
to a friend's invitation we knock at his door, we ex- 
pect to meet, not his servants, but himself, and to 
enjoy his own companionship. This is what the God 
of salvation warrants us to expect when we knock at 
the door of his mercy. He may, it is true, send his 
servants to answer our petitions. He sent the ravens 
to feed Elijah when he was hungry. At another time 
he ministered to him by the hands of a poor widow. 
He sent the wind and opened a path for his people 
through the Red Sea. He sent the earthquake and 
released Paul and Silas from prison. At another 
time he sent his angel to release Peter and save him 
from an untimely death. God's chariots twenty thou- 
sand are, and he employs these for the good of his 
children. His resources are endless and boundless, 
and out of his bountiful storehouses he satisfies their 
needs. Yet none of these things, nor all of them com- 
bined, can satisfy man's deepest need. Nor does God 
put off those who truly seek him with created com- 
forts and blessings. He gives himself. When he 
says, "Knock, and it shall be opened," he means that 
he himself will receive and entertain us in his own 
banqueting hall. It matters not how humble the 
place of entertainment if the Lord himself be the en- 
tertainer. President Garfield used to say that Mark 
Hopkins at one end of a log and an eager student at 
the other would constitute a royal college. What 
shall we say of the humble cell in which the Lord 
Jesus is the instructor and the humble disciple is the 



72 The Rod That Budded 



learner? Must not such a place be next door to 
heaven ? 

Who can tell the exhaustless fulness and richness 
of the blessedness with which he is waiting to fill our 
souls ? The infinite fulness of God is pledged as the 
heritage of his children. In the National Gallery in 
London there is an expressive painting, representing 
an incident in the life of Augustine. He is seated at 
his desk, where he had been writing on the great 
mystery of the purposes of God. Perplexed at the 
greatness of his theme, he falls asleep and in his 
dreams, he sees a little child on the seashore, trying 
with a small ladle to empty the ocean into a little 
hollow which it has scooped out with its tiny hands. 
When the great thinker awoke, he said to himself, 
"That is what I have been trying to do — to compre- 
hend the infinite within the small measure of my finite 
mind." But though the child of God cannot compre- 
hend his greatness, he appropriates it all as his own 
possession, as he says, "My Lord and my God." His 
very incomprehensibility becomes the pledge of the 
exhaustless streams of blessing which flow from this 
source. God's infinity becomes the extent of the be- 
liever's inheritance, his eternity the duration of his 
happiness, his unchangeableness the rock of his rest. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE RIVER AND THE TREE 



"And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and 
on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall 
not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed; it 
shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, be- 
cause their waters they issued out of the sanctuary; and 
the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for 
medicine." — Ezekiel 47:12. 



HE garden which was man's first abode was 



watered by a river which parted into four 



branches, and near this tree grew the tree of 
life. The earthly Eden has been lost. Men have 
speculated as to its probable location, but this cannot 
be determined, much less can its blessedness be re- 
stored. But in all the representations of a paradise 
regained the river and the tree are inseparably con- 
nected. The tree of life grows on either side of the 
river. So is it in the inspired representations of the 
tree of life as it is found growing upon the earth. 
The prophet Ezekiel saw in a vision the river of life 
issuing from the threshold of the temple, from the 
south side of the altar, flowing down into the desert 
and carrying life wherever it went. This vision had 
a realistic background in the prophet's recollections 
of the Brook Kedron which flowed past the temple 




74 The Rod That Budded 

area down among the bleak and desolate hills of the 
Judean wilderness to the Dead Sea. No more deso- 
late region can be found than that which is cleft by 
the Kedron gorge, and especially than the borders of 
the Dead Sea. Yet by the life-giving energy of the 
river of life the wilderness and the solitary place 
would be made glad, and the desert should rejoice 
and blossom as the rose. By its life-giving energy 
even the briny waters of the Dead Sea would be 
healed. "Everything whithersoever the rivers shall 
come shall live" — a refreshing picture of the life- 
giving, purifying power of the stream of salvation 
which flows down through the wilderness world from 
the throne of God and of the Lamb. And along the 
banks of that stream grew all manner of trees, the 
fruit of which was good for food, growing on this 
side of the river and on that — within easy reach of 
all. 

The presence of the river is essential to life and 
growth. This also was turned back in its flow to- 
ward mankind by sin's obstruction, and but for the 
mercy of God man must have forever famished for 
lack of the water of life. Only through his match- 
less grace have its streams been made to flow again 
through this wilderness world, carrying life and re- 
freshment wherever they go. Isaac digged again 
the wells which were digged in the days of his father 
Abraham, for the Philistines had filled them with 
earth. And the moment sin entered into the world 
it clogged the channels of communion with God, 
shutting man off from that source of blessing which 



The River and the Tree 



75 



alone can bring satisfaction to his immortal na- 
ture. 

What Isaac did in his search after water for his 
family and flocks, the greater Son of promise has 
done for a famishing world in an immeasurably 
higher degree. The moment man sinned there was 
interrupted that communion with God which had 
been the very life of his soul, and no human efforts 
could ever have reopened a channel for the communi- 
cation of divine favor. The obstacles were too great 
for man himself ever to overcome. To say nothing 
of the distance at which man placed himself from 
God through sin, there was a growing disinclination 
to return to the living fountain of life which he had 
forsaken. In addition to this there was the ever- 
increasing mountain of guilt which must have pre- 
vented the streams of mercy from flowing out to 
man. 

It was that he might reopen the way to the foun- 
tain of life that the Lord Jesus gave his life a ransom 
for souls. It was at infinite cost that the Son of God 
digged again the wells which his Father had set flow- 
ing for the refreshment of mankind at their creation. 
To the woman at Jacob's well Jesus said, "If thou 
knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith unto 
thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of 
him and he would have given thee living water." 
But in order that he might make this gracious offer 
to famishing souls, the Son of God must sit at the 
wellside hungry, footsore, weary and thirsty, com- 
pelled to ask a drink of water of the Samaritan 



76 The Rod That Budded 



woman. He who would say, "If any man thirst let 
him come unto me and drink," must himself cry from 
the cross, "I thirst." He who would offer rest to the 
weary and heavy laden must himself know the fa- 
tigue which follows the exhausting cares and labors 
of the earthly life. In order that he might lead souls 
back to the enjoyment of divine grace and favor, 
Jesus suffered the hiding of the Father's face, calling 
forth the cry of desertion, "My God, my God, why 
hast thou forsaken me?" It was truly at an incal- 
culable cost that a channel for the communication of 
divine favor and life to the perishing souls has been 
reopened. 

In order that men might be partakers of the heav- 
enly life the Son of God established channels or 
means of grace which are within easy reach of all. 
These channels are the well-known ordinances of 
Christian worship and the institutions of the Chris- 
tian Church. There is but one source of the waters 
of life and salvation, the overflowing fulness of the 
love of God. Yet there are many channels by which 
he communicates his favor to famishing souls. The 
city of Damascus is watered by seven rivers, which 
have made it for forty centuries a perpetual oasis in 
the desert, yet all these rivers flow from one source, 
the Barada River — the old Abana — which gushes 
through the gorge of the mountains. So has God 
given us Sabbaths, the open pages of the inspired 
word, the public ordinances of his house, praise, 
prayer, sacraments, Christian fellowship and Chris- 
tian service, the family altar, and the secret closet — 



The River and the Tree 



77 



all means by which he communicates life and salva- 
tion to those who truly call upon him. Indeed some- 
times the complaint arises that so many means of 
grace have been placed at our disposal. Men are too 
apt to regard these as obligations to be met, rather 
than privileges to be enjoyed. So they are when their 
observance becomes a matter of dead form. When 
we open the sacred Scriptures, or turn our feet to the 
house of worship, or approach the throne of grace 
merely as exercises which we have pledged ourselves 
to observe, it is not strange that we find little joy or 
refreshment in their observance. But when we come 
to look upon these as opportunities by which we meet 
with him who loves us with a love far surpassing that 
of the dearest earthly friends and whom we love 
above all others, then with gladness do we hail the 
return of the moments of such fellowship and service. 

We may be disposed to think that fewer channels 
of grace would have served and satisfied the necessi- 
ties of our souls. But God who knew the greatness 
of the life which he imparts and which he has pledged 
to sustain and nourish knows better than we what we 
need to enable us to rise to the stature of the perfect 
man. He came that we might have life, and that we 
might have it more abundantly, and to this end he has 
provided an abundant means of grace. While life 
may be made to subsist by the use of even one of the 
ordained channels for the communication of divine 
grace, such as secret prayer, yet there cannot be that 
fulness of health and vitality which would be mani- 
fested if all the appointed means of grace were dili- 



78 The Rod That Budded 



gently used. God never designed that any of his 
children should be satisfied with bare existence. He 
is not satisfied to have them live at so low an ebb as 
this. He longs to have the fulness of his own life 
abounding in them. "These things have I spoken 
unto you/' said the Lord of glory, "that my joy 
might remain in you, and that your joy might be 
full." Paul prayed for nothing less on behalf of 
those for whom he yearned than that they might be 
strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner 
man, that Christ might dwell in their hearts by faith, 
and that being rooted and grounded in love they 
might be able to comprehend with all saints the 
breadth and length, the depth and height of the love 
of Christ, and that they might be filled with all the 
fulness of God. And with nothing less than this can 
we be satisfied. 

Even if we were content to enjoy but a small 
measure of the divine life and power for ourselves 
we owe it to those among whom we live to seek and 
expect richer measures of the divine blessing. When 
God called Abram into a strange land, he said, "I will 
bless thee and make thy name great, and be thou a 
blessing" (R. V.). It was not for himself alone that 
he was called into that strange land and given the 
promise that his seed should inherit it as theirs. God 
never intended that any life should be like the stag- 
nant pool, receiving heaven's benediction, but never 
giving it out to others, selfishly hoarding its waters 
until they become unsightly and fill the air with mi- 
asma and death. He meant that we should be like 



The River and the Tree 79 



the brook that goes babbling and singing on its way, 
causing flowers and grass and trees to grow along 
its borders, furnishing fresh, pure waters to the birds 
which come and sip at its brink and then mount to 
heaven warbling their notes of praise. That the 
Christ-life in us should flow out to other lives, it 
should be our constant aim and effort to have his life 
abounding in us. He longs to flood our souls with 
divine life and blessing in order that we ourselves 
may be a blessing unto those who need our assistance. 

It should be our constant aim to keep open the 
channels by which God communicates his grace and 
favor. The Suez Canal, although constructed at 
great cost of life and treasure, would soon be made 
useless by the drifting desert sands if dredgers were 
not continually at work. Slowly, steadily the drift 
from the desert accomplishes its work, but it would 
as effectually blockade this great highway of the 
nations as would the mightiest man-of-war, if the 
workmen were not continually applying the crane 
and shovel. Still more disastrous will be the daily 
drift of this world's cares and hopes and aspirations, 
its pleasures and pursuits, in clogging up channels of 
communication between the Father of mercies and 
our needy souls if we do not exercise continual vigi- 
lance. 

The native slothfulness of the human heart in ref- 
erence to spiritual matters would itself soon effectu- 
ally raise a bar of interference between our souls and 
God. Besides this there is the native drift of the life 
away from the spiritual and the divine, there is the 



8o The Rod That Budded 



contempt of the world, spoken or unexpressed, there 
is the floodtide of temptations which adds its daily 
complement of driftwood, all tending to effectually 
bar the way of access to the throne of God and the 
river of life. 

Shall we allow ourselves to be robbed of this rich- 
est part of our heritage? Shall men count them- 
selves highly favored when their farms are watered 
with abundant springs, and shall we not keep open 
the upper springs which alone are able to enrich the 
heart and life with heaven's choicest blessings ? For 
nothing less than this water of life can satisfy the 
soul. Dante sang of the "con-created thirst," a long- 
ing after God which was created w T hen he breathed 
into man the breath of life and he became a living 
soul. Augustine declared that man was made for 
God, and none but he could satisfy the desires of his 
immortal nature. And long before Dante wrote his 
Comedia and Augustine his Confessions, David 
wrote, "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek 
thee. My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth 
for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is. 
Because thy loving-kindness is better than life, my 
lips shall praise thee." 

Along the banks of the river of life grow all man- 
ner of fruits necessary for the nourishment and re- 
freshment and healing of those who drink of the life- 
giving waters. Many descriptions of these fruits are 
given in the Word. Take, for example, the Shepherd 
Psalm, which has a place in almost every believing 
heart, a song w T hich from beginning to end thrills 



The River and the Tree 81 

with confidence and joy and hope. It speaks of want, 
but wants fully supplied. It speaks of shadows, but 
shadows dispelled by the Light of the world. It 
speaks of enemies fierce and strong, but enemies over- 
come by One who is mightier than they. There is a 
fountain disclosed in this psalm — the Eternal Source 
of life and blessings. That fountain is he who 
teaches us in this song to sing, "The Lord is my 
Shepherd." He who can say this can assuredly add, 
"I shall not want," and the provision of which it 
sings covers all the needs of life from the cradle to 
the grave. "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not 
want" provision for my daily necessities. When 
sheep lie down in green pastures and are led beside 
the quiet waters, their wants are well supplied. The 
promise to those who follow the Lord is, "Bread shall 
be given him, and his waters shall be sure." Even 
though this be a feeding from hand to mouth, what 
matters this if the Hand that feeds be the Hand that 
is opened liberally to supply the wants of all that live ? 
"The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want" rest. 
"He maketh me to lie down," giving repose and rest 
of soul in the midst of life's conflicts. "The Lord is 
my Shepherd, I shall not want" guidance. "He 
leadeth me beside the still waters." "He leadeth me in 
the paths of righteousness." A twofold leading, yet 
one and the same; for those who walk in the paths 
of righteousness drink of the "brook in the way." 
"The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want" reviv- 
ing and refreshing grace. "He restoreth my soul," 
giving the cordials of his grace when ready to faint 



82 The Rod That Budded 



by the way. "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not 
want" support and victory in hours of darkness and 
danger. Even in the dark valley his rod and staff 
cheer and support and protect. The Shepherd leads 
his sheep "through" the valley, not into it to abide 
always. The traveler is plunged into the darkness of 
the St. Gotthard tunnel on leaving the chilly breath 
and the eternal snows of Switzerland, and for the 
time there is the stifling atmosphere, the sepulchral 
rumbling, the darkness that can almost be felt. But 
in less than half an hour the train emerges into the 
light once more, and now instead of winter's chilly 
breath, there is the sunny atmosphere of Italy, the 
song of the birds, the breath of flowers, and the sleep 
of the green fields in the sunshine. God never leads 
his children into darkness to leave them there for- 
ever. "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want" 
anything along the journey of life, for his goodness 
and mercy shall surely follow me "all the days." 
"The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want" a 
home. For "I shall dwell in the house of the Lord 
forever." 

The relationship of a shepherd to his sheep sug- 
gests the constant companionship of the Lord and 
his people. A party of travelers from Hebron to 
Hermon saw many flocks of sheep and goats, in every 
instance attended by a shepherd. One of the party 
remarked upon this fact, when soon afterward they 
came within sight of a flock which seemed an excep- 
tion to the general rule. 

"Where is your shepherd now?" inquired another 



The River and the Tree 83 



member of the party. It was not necessary to reply, 
for scarcely had the query been made when from be- 
hind a rock rose a man dressed in the many-colored 
robes of the oriental shepherd who stood until the 
company had passed, as if to say, "If you think that 
I could leave my flock unprotected for a moment, you 
are greatly mistaken. Wherever my sheep go, there 
I must be always in their midst." And if there is 
one truth emphasized more than another in the Holy 
Scriptures it is the fact of the inseparable companion- 
ship of the Lord and those who sit down under his 
shadow and eat of his pleasant fruit. The chapter 
which begins with "no condemnation to them who are 
in Christ Jesus," ends with "no separation from the 
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 



CHAPTER IX. 



THE TREE YIELDING FRUIT AFTER ITS KIND 
"To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise." — Luke 23 : 43. 

IT matters little how logical a system of teachings 
may be, if their defenders can point to no living 
results. Men are not so much concerned about 
the consistency of a theory; that which they chiefly 
ask is, "What has it done?" Years ago a speaker 
was demonstrating to a New York audience the im- 
possibility of ocean steamship navigation when the 
Savannah was steaming up the Narrows on her re- 
turn from her first trip across the Atlantic. There 
is no satisfactory test of doctrines but this : "By their 
fruits ye shall know them." 

If he whom the world esteemed as a "root out of a 
dry ground" was the rod that budded forth into the 
flowers and fruits of a gracious life, if the dry tree 
that was planted on Calvary was to blossom forth 
into the tree of life, we would expect it to begin soon 
to give tokens of such fruitfulness. And so it proved. 
Even while our Lord hung upon the cross it began to 
yield fruit unto everlasting life. Even before he had 
completed the payment of the ransom price one of 
the trophies of his redeeming blood turned to him 



Tree Yielding Fruit After its Kind 85 



with a look of faith. Scarcely had the accursed tree 
been planted on Calvary — dry and leafless — when it 
began to put forth buds, and to bloom blossoms, and 
to yield almonds. Even while our Lord hung upon 
the accursed tree, it began to yield fruit unto life 
eternal. 

It was while our Lord hung upon the accursed tree 
that the way to the tree of life was set fully open. 
Multitudes had found their way to that tree through 
type and shadow and symbol ; now the veil was soon 
to be removed and the way into the holiest fully re- 
vealed. Now for the first time on record our Lord 
speaks of the abode of the blessed by the name para- 
dise, as though he thought of the Eden in which the 
first tree of life was planted as a fore-type of the 
heritage of bliss which he was going to prepare. 

The fruit which grew upon the accursed tree while 
Jesus hung upon it was such as satisfied both his 
own heart and the one who plucked and ate of it. 
Nothing could have so cheered his anguish-laden soul 
in that hour as to hear the prayer addressed to him 
by one of his companions in suffering, "Lord, remem- 
ber me when thou comest into thy kingdom." Here 
was a cry of need — such need as could never have 
been satisfied had he refused to yield himself to the 
cross. Here was a soul thirsting for mercy, pardon 
and eternal life, and only he could quench this thirst, 
and that only by giving up his life on the accursed 
tree. Long before, it had been written, "He shall 
see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied." 
Now he was beginning to realize the fulfillment. He 



86 The Rod That Budded 



who said to his disciples at Jacob's well, ' 'I have meat 
to eat that ye know not of," could have said upon the 
cross, "Though my lips are parched with feverish 
thirst my soul is finding its refreshment in delivering 
this lost soul from eternal death. This is more satis- 
fying than wine mingled with myrrh, or any of the 
draughts of earth that may be pressed to my lips." 
The first word from the cross was the prayer, 
"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they 
do." The second was a word of assurance in answer 
to a prayer which was the proof that his own prayer 
had been speedily answered. The tree was already 
beginning to yield fruit unto life everlasting. 

The confession made by the penitent thief must 
have been as a cup of cold water to the fainting 
spirit of our Lord. When the impenitent thief was 
still taunting the Lord, his companion in suffering 
said, "Dost thou not fear God, seeing thou art in the 
same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we 
receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man 
hath done nothing amiss." At first he may have 
joined in the bitter raillery, "If thou be the Son of 
God, save thyself and us." But as he looked upon 
the uncomplaining patience with which this strange 
companion in suffering bore the ignominy and the 
torture, as he listened to his tender, fervent prayer, 
"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they 
do," his bitterness was turned to penitence, his con- 
tempt to reverence and holy trust, and from his lips 
there came the prayer, "Lord, remember me when 
thou comest into thy kingdom." He, perhaps alone 



Tree Yielding Fruit After its Kind 87 



in all that vast company, believed now that the de- 
spised Nazarene who hung by his side had a king- 
dom, and that he was soon to take unto himself his 
power and reign. 

It was a remarkable confession which escaped from 
the lips of that dying malefactor. In his word of re- 
buke to his fellow sufferer he said, "We receive the 
due reward of our deeds, but this Man hath done 
nothing amiss/' This was more than a mere nega- 
tive testimony. It set the seal of approval upon all 
that Jesus had said or done. "This Man hath done 
nothing amiss/' When Pilate inquired, "Art thou a 
King," Jesus answered, "Thou sayest." Yet he had 
done nothing amiss. He had said to Caiaphas, when 
adjured to tell whether he was the Christ the Son of 
God, "Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting 
on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds 
of heaven," yet he had done nothing amiss. He 
had claimed to be able to give rest to the weary, water 
to the thirsty, bread to the hungry, light to those who 
are in darkness, pardon to the rebellious, cleansing to 
the defiled, life to the dead — yet he had done nothing 
amiss. After such a declaration of faith, we are not 
surprised to hear the penitent address Jesus as a King 
about to come into a kingdom of power and glory, 
and beseech a gracious remembrance w r hen he sat 
upon his throne. 

The dying malefactor also acknowledged his own 
unworthiness and plead for pardoning mercy. How 
cheering and refreshing that prayer must have been 
to the Saviour's heart: "Lord, remember me when 



88 The Rod That Budded 



thou comest into thy kingdom." Here was some- 
thing better than wine mingled with myrrh, better 
than the tears of the women who stood by watching 
the last agonies ! He was already beginning to reap 
the fruit of his passion, to see of the travail of his 
soul and be satisfied. He has come far in his seeking 
after the lost sheep, but he has found it, and now he 
shall bear it back to his Father's house rejoicing. 

That prayer from the cross of the penitent thief 
must always be a reminder of the way back to the 
paradise of God. On the Saviour's part, there was 
the expiation of sin. On the sinner's part, there was 
a consciousness of sin, a sense of helplessness and un- 
worthiness, faith in the power of the Redeemer to 
save, and a clinging in absolute surrender to him who 
alone has power to forgive. The dying thief had 
heard the prayer for forgiveness of enemies, and the 
hope had been awakened that there was forgiveness 
for him, and that this forgiveness might be had 
through him who was giving his life as a ransom for 
sinners. No matter what our standing among men, 
if we are to enter the paradise of God it must be by 
the way that was set open to the penitent thief — 
through the blood of the Sin-bearer. 

There is a blessed encouragement in every syllable 
of the answer to the penitent's prayer — this first 
fruits of the tree that was beginning to bud, fruit 
which has refreshed many a soul and which is still 
offered to us. 

"To-day." How near Jesus has brought heaven to 
earth by the blood of his cross ! No long pilgrimages. 



Tree Yielding Fruit After its Kind 89 



No purgatorial fires. No waiting until after the 
sleep of the body in the grave. Before the sun would 
set behind the Judean hills, Redeemer and ransomed 
would together enter the gates of glory. It was in 
this confidence that Paul wrote of his desire "to de- 
part and to be with Christ" — as if there would be no 
appreciable lapse of time between the soul's departure 
from the earthly tabernacle and its welcome into the 
mansions of glory. It was in this same holy confi- 
dence of the nearness of heaven that another apostle 
wrote of the inheritance incorruptible, undefiled and 
that fadeth not away, "ready to be revealed," as if 
only a thin veil separated between the seen and the 
unseen, between the suffering on earth and the glory 
which shall follow. 

"Thou." To whom were these gracious words ad- 
dressed ? Were they spoken to the weeping mother 
who stood near the cross, or to any of the faithful 
women or the apostle of love who had not forsaken 
him in this hour of supreme trial? Had they been 
addressed to them, these words could not have 
brought comfort to those who are conscious of lives 
spent in sin. But it was not to these, it was to a de- 
spised malefactor who was dying the ignominious 
death of the cross. Yet it was not until he had made 
confession, both of his own sinfulness, and of the 
power of the Lord Jesus to save. The gorgeous west 
window of the Winchester cathedral was made out of 
broken fragments of the glass of other windows. 
And it is out of the broken fragments of humanity 
that Jesus is building unto himself a magnificent 



90 The Rod That Budded 



temple that shall stand forever to the praise of his 
glory. Out of a rejected block of marble Angelo 
chiselled his matchless figure of David. Out of this 
rejected outcast — the malefactor at his side — our 
Lord was forming a soul which should adorn his 
palace forever and ever. The fruit of the tree of 
life is offered to all classes and conditions of men. 

"With me." Jesus is not only the way to the tree 
of life; he is that tree himself. Whatever other joys 
heaven may afford, the presence and companionship 
of Jesus must always be its sum and centre. Even on 
earth he is the joy and strength of all who believe in 
his name. He is the bread of life which satisfies their 
hunger. He is the water of life which satisfies thirst 
and creates a well-spring of joy within the heart. 
And in heaven his presence and companionship will 
be uninterrupted and fully satisfying. No greater 
privilege could the seer of Patmos ascribe to the re- 
deemed in glory than this, "These are they who fol- 
low the Lamb whithersoever he goeth." If they hun- 
ger no more, and thirst no more, it is because the 
Lamb, who is in the midst of the throne, shall feed 
them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of 
water. A company of believers were speaking of 
the chief joys of heaven. One spoke of the streets 
of gold, another of the gates of pearl, another of the 
river and the tree of life; but Thomas a Kempis gave 
this as his conception of the very perfection of its 
endless bliss : "His servants shall see his face." The 
companionship of Jesus, begun on earth, will be per- 
fectly enjoyed in the paradise above. 



Tree Yielding Fruit After its Kind 91 



"In Paradise." The humblest place with Jesus 
would be heaven, while the most beautiful spot in 
the creation without his gracious presence would be a 
living hell. Yet the place itself which Jesus has gone 
to prepare for his ransomed ones will be as perfect 
as the hand of the great Creator can make it. The 
paradise in which man was placed at his creation has 
stood for ages as the representative of the most 
blessed abode which man could have enjoyed upon 
earth. What shall we then say of the paradise of 
God in the heavens above? When Paul wrote 
to the Corinthians, "Eye hath not seen, nor 
ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of 
man the things which God hath prepared for them 
that love him," he was writing to a people who were 
familiar with all that was noble and lovely in art and 
architecture. The temples of Corinth, with their 
fluted columns and flowered capitals, have stood ever 
since as the pattern of that which is grand and beauti- 
ful. And if Corinth did not furnish examples enough 
of the possibilities of human art and handiwork, there 
across the Bay of Salamis stood the Acropolis of 
Athens, crowned with the Parthenon and other tem- 
ples of marvelous beauty. He was addressing peo- 
ple whose ears had been cultivated to appreciate and 
enjoy that which was most pleasing in oratory and 
most perfect in harmony. Yet Paul was bold enough 
to write, "What you have seen and heard is not 
worthy to be compared with the glory which God is 
preparing for those who love him." In heaven the 
redeemed tread under their feet that for which earth's 



92 The Rod That Budded 



multitudes toil and strive. Paul was caught up into 
paradise, and saw and heard things which it was not 
lawful for him to utter. Earth has no language in 
which to express the glory and grandeur of heaven. 
But of this we may rest assured, if God has clothed 
the earth which is only our temporary abode with 
such beauty and glory, what must be the grandeur 
of that home which shall abide forever and ever? If 
he has left so many traces of beauty upon his foot- 
stool, even though marred by the curse, what must 
be his throne where nothing shall ever enter that will 
hurt or destroy? 

For us the question of most absorbing interest is, 
How can sinners find access to this paradise of end- 
less delight? This way has been made clear by the 
very fact that these words concerning the reopened 
paradise were uttered by our Lord upon the cross. 
In no other way could he set open its doors to us save 
by offering his life as our ransom upon the accursed 
tree. 



CHAPTER X. 



THE PROTECTING SHADOW 



"As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my 
Beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with 
great delight." — Song of Solomon 2 : 3. 



HERE has been much discussion about the kind 



of tree referred to in these words. The apple 



family includes numerous varieties, such as 
the apricot, the pomegranate, the golden citron, the 
common apple, each of which has been suggested as 
the fruit used by Solomon in his poetic allusions. 
Dr. George E. Post, Presbyterian missionary at Bei- 
rut, who from a long residence in Syria is qualified to 
speak on the subject with intelligence, says, "The 
apple fulfills all the conditions perfectly. It is a fruit 
tree which often attains a large size. It is planted in 
orchards and near houses, and is a special favorite 
of the people of Palestine and Syria. It is true that 
the fruit of the Syrian apple is far inferior to that of 
Europe, and especially to that of America. Never- 
theless it is a favorite with all the people, and in a few 
places fine varieties have been introduced and have 
thriven well. Doubtless such an epicure as Solomon 
would have many of the choicest kinds. Almost all 
the apples of Syria and Palestine are sweet. They 




94 The Rod That Budded 



have a delicious aroma, and it is for this quality that 
they are most prized. It is very common, when visit- 
ing a friend, to have an apple handed to you just to 
smell Sick people almost invariably ask the doctor 
if they may have an apple, and if he objects, they 
urge their case with the plea that they only want it to 
smell. If a person feels faint or seasick, he likes 
nothing better than to get an apple to smell. It is an 
every-day sight to see an apple put over the mouth 
of the small earthenware water pitcher to give a 
slight aroma of the apple to the w T ater." 

Whatever uncertainty may exist as to the variety 
of fruit spoken of, there is no question as to the One 
whom it is used to represent. It is he whom the 
Church delights to call "My Beloved," a term which 
pre-eminently belongs to our Lord Jesus Christ. We 
are at no more loss to understand whom the writer 
means by this term than we are when the beloved 
apostle ascribes "unto him that loved us" dominion 
and glory. There is One to whom this description 
may be pre-eminently applied. Many stars glitter 
above us in the night season, but they grow pale and 
fade away at the approach of the king of day. There 
are many affections among men, true and strong, but 
they grow dim when compared with the love of Jesus 
Christ. David might well say of Jonathan, "Thy 
love to me was wonderful." But he himself had ex- 
hibited a valor, combined with a modesty, unselfish- 
ness and piety worthy of such a love even from the 
son of a king. But who can look into the face of him 
whose eyes are as a flame of fire and say unto him, 



The Protecting Shadow 95 



"Lord, I am worthy of the wonderful love thou hast 
bestowed upon me" ? You tell me of the love of a 
soldier, going forth to suffer and die on behalf of his 
country, but when did a man leave fireside and 
friends and go forth to die for the enemies of his 
country ? "But God commendeth his love toward us, 
in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for 
us." You tell me of the love of a mother for her 
child, and I grant you there is no love like hers for 
tenderness, tenacity and endurance. And God uses 
her tenderness to illustrate his own matchless grace. 
But he also says, "Can a woman forget her sucking 
child, that she should not have compassion on the 
son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I 
not forget thee." Jesus Christ is pre-eminently the 
Beloved to all who put their trust in him. 

To the tired traveler under a burning sun nothing 
is more welcome than the sight of a wide-spreading 
tree with thick foliage, under w T hich he may lie down 
and rest. Elijah availed himself even of the scant 
protection afforded by the branches of the juniper 
tree when he fled from the relentless hate of wicked 
Jezebel. And when men come to know that they are 
pursued by an avenger more terrible, because its 
claims are founded in eternal righteousness which 
must be satisfied, they are glad to avail themselves 
of any shelter that will afford protection from its de- 
vouring flames. And there is only One who can pro- 
vide them such protection. Only when they sit under 
the shadow of the Beloved do they find rest and 
safety. Men have sought safety in ways of their own 



96 The Rod That Budded 



devising, but they are all refuges of lies. Even the 
rocks and mountains will not be sufficient to hide 
them from the face of him who sits upon the throne, 
and from the wrath of the Lamb. 

The Scriptures seem to exhaust the imagery of 
earth in setting forth the completeness and perfect 
security of the refuge afforded by the Lord Jesus 
Christ. The shadow of a tree is very inviting and 
refreshing, but will it last? Already the weary 
traveler sees some withered leaves upon the ground 
on which he rests, reminding him that in a few weeks 
or months at the most the branches which are now 
covered with rich foliage will be barren and bare. 
The evanescence of its foliage is one of the strongest 
emblems of our own frailty and mortality. "We all 
do fade as a leaf." Over against this, we have the 
repeated assurance that the leaf of the Righteous One 
shall never wither. The tree of life is evergreen, and 
its leaf shall never fade. But to assure our hearts 
of the eternal security of all who put their trust in 
him, other figures are employed to set forth the sta- 
bility of the shadow under which he invites us to rest. 
"A Man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, 
and a covert from the tempest ; as rivers of water in 
a dry place ; as the shadow of a great rock in a weary 
land." What is more permanent in all the earth than 
the great rocks which its Creator has cast up with his 
mighty hand? The man who builds upon the rock 
is secure though great storms beat upon his house, 
while he who builds upon the sand is swept away. 
God himself finds no stronger language in which to 



The Protecting Shadow 97 



proclaim his unchangeableness than when he calls 
himself the Rock of his people. And our Beloved is 
"as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." 
A great rock, and therefore there is room for all who 
will come unto him. A great rock, and therefore it 
will stand unmoved forever. It is the rock that is 
higher than we, and higher than any flood of tempta- 
tion or tribulation that may ever threaten to over- 
whelm us. 

And it is a blessed thing to know that "a man" is 
such a rock to all who sit down under his shadow. 
There is something awe-inspiring in a great rock 
standing up in solitary grandeur in the midst of a 
vast plain. It almost inspires dread and repels ap- 
proach, while the tired pilgrim would gladly avail 
himself of its shadow. But no one need dread to 
come near to this Rock which affords perfect protec- 
tion and rest in a weary land. This is the Man who 
is God's Fellow, having dwelt in his bosom from all 
eternity, the Man who is God's equal, who thought 
it not robbery to be equal with God. And he is also 
the Man who made himself of no reputation, who 
being in the form of God took upon him the form of 
a servant, who being found in fashion as a man 
humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, 
even the death of the cross. This is the Man who was 
moved with compassion at the sight of sin, suffering 
and sorrow, the Man who took little children in his 
arms and blessed them, who laid his hand in tender 
compassion yet mighty healing power upon the out- 
cast leper, and who graciously said to the outcast of 



98 The Rod That Budded 



society, "Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no 
more." This is the Man who wept at the grave in 
Bethany, and gave added joy to the wedding in Cana 
of Galilee, whose presence heightens every joy and 
heals every sorrow. 

There is a sweet suggestiveness in the names of 
the Hebrew cities of refuge to which the man-slayer 
was directed to flee. One of these was called Kadesh, 
which means holiness, suggesting him who was 
"holy, harmless and separate from sinners." An- 
other was called Shechem — shoulder, and we remem- 
ber the prediction, "The government shall be upon his 
shoulder." Another was called Hebron — friend or 
friendship, and we think of him of whom even his 
enemies said, "This man is the friend of publicans 
and sinners." Another was called Bezer — precious, 
a designation applied to gold or silver ore. But 
there is something more precious than gold. "To 
you who believe he is precious." Ramoth-Gilead 
means the Heights of Gilead, and there is a Rock 
that is higher than we. Golan — exile — suggests him 
who became an exile from home that he might bring 
home those who had made themselves exiles from the 
Father's house. 

David loves to sing of the refuge and rest afforded 
by the Beloved. His favorite figure is that of the 
sheltering wings of the mother bird, a figure em- 
ployed by our Lord in one of his most tender and 
pathetic appeals. This figure of thought and speech 
seems to have been handed down as one of the heir- 
looms in David's family, just as in some families we 



The Protecting Shadow 99 

hear the same expressive forms of petition offered 
generation after generation. Among the first re- 
corded words of David's great-grandfather Boaz to 
the daughter of Moab whom he chose as his wife we 
find this benediction, "The Lord recompense thy 
work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord 
God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to 
trust." Perhaps Boaz took up this form of speech 
from his familiarity with the figures most promi- 
nent in the tabernacle of worship, God's gracious 
presence among his people being there represented 
by the cherubim with outstretched wings, not only 
those which overshadowed the mercy-seat, but also 
those which adorned the curtains of the tabernacle 
under which the priests rendered their daily service. 
The priests, the representatives of the people, dwelt 
daily under the shadow of these wings, symbolizing 
the constant overshadowing protection which God 
gave to his people. David himself knew by experi- 
ence the value of the protection afforded by a mere 
shadow. Once he was saved from the murderous 
spear of Saul by the shadow of a rock which con- 
cealed his presence from the envious pursuer. No 
wonder that he took up as his psalm of praise after 
this deliverance, "Be merciful unto me, O God, be 
merciful unto me ; for my soul trusteth in thee ; yea, 
in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, 
until these calamities be overpast." 

There is something most tender and expressive 
in this use of the shelter afforded by the wings of 
the mother bird. While the shadow of a tree is in- 



ioo The Rod That Budded 



viting and refreshing, and the shadow of a great 
rock speaks of stability and security, the shadow of 
God's wings speaks of tenderness and love. There 
is nothing more soft and gentle to the touch than 
the inner feathers of a bird's wings. And when her 
brood are enjoying this shelter, she presses them 
close to her heart, so that they continually feel and 
partake of the warmth of her body. And God loves 
to draw his children close to his heart, and to put 
around them his almighty, yet tender, loving arms. 
It is not strange therefore that when our Lord was 
pouring forth the yearnings of his heart over the 
chosen people, in his last farewell to the temple, he 
should employ this as the language of his soul, "O 
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, 
and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often 
would I have gathered thy children together, even as 
a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and 
ye would not." 

David had experienced that tenderness, and he 
wrote, "Thy gentleness hath made me great" (Psalm 
1 8 : 35). The very character in which God has re- 
vealed himself assures us of his gentleness. "Like 
as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth 
them that fear him." "As one whom his mother 
comforteth, so will I comfort thee." Coupled with 
exhibitions of his almighty power are assurances, 
also, of his patience and compassion. "The Lord is 
slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at 
all acquit the wicked" (Nahum 1:3). That revela- 
tion of his character which he gave to Moses, when 



The Protecting Shadow 101 



he was hidden in the cleft of the rock, speaks both 
of his almighty power and his long-suffering good- 
ness. "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gra- 
cious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and 
truth" (Exodus 34: 6, 7). The gracious invitations 
which fell from the lips of our Lord give us assur- 
ance of his unfailing tenderness and pity. It was 
foretold of him, "A bruised reed shall he not break, 
and the smoking flax shall he not quench" (Isaiah 
42:3). With this agree his own gracious words, 
and his method of dealing with all who came to him. 
Little children were always welcomed into his pres- 
ence. The outcast he never rejected. The lowly 
and despised always found a gracious reception in 
his presence. "Come unto me, all ye that labor and 
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." 

God's wings are Almighty wings, too, for they 
represent the strength of omnipotence. The strength 
of the bird resides largely in its wings. There is 
death in the flap of an eagle's wing, when she uses 
them in anger; there is sustaining power in them 
when she bears her eaglets upon them. The strength 
of the Almighty is terrible to contemplate to those 
who are not dwelling in his secret place. One stroke 
of his omnipotence, and 185,000 Assyrians lay dead 
in their tents. One visit of the destroying angel, and 
in every Egyptian home there was mourning for the 
dead. But in Jerusalem there was safety, when 
Hezekiah and Isaiah sought the divine protection. 
In the houses of the Hebrews there was safety in 
Egypt, because the Lord was their shield. His om- 



102 The Rod That Budded 

nipotence is like the pillar of fiery cloud which repre- 
sented his presence in the Red Sea ; on the side next 
his enemies it was dark and frowning; on the side 
nearest his own it was bright and cheering. 

How does our Lord furnish shelter to those who 
put their trust in him ? How does the tree give pro- 
tection from the burning rays of the sun to those 
who lie down under its shadow? How does the 
great rock afford refreshment to those that are 
weary? How does the mother bird protect her 
young? By receiving in themselves that which im- 
perils and enfeebles those who seek their protection. 
The leaves of the tree are withered by the burning 
rays that would continue to sap the vitality and 
strength of the traveler. The rock likewise arrests 
the torrid heat, or turns aside the storm of sand. 
The mother bird receives into her own heart the dart 
that was aimed at her little ones. And our Beloved 
was made a curse for us that he might redeem from 
the eternal curse of the broken law. "He was 
wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for 
our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was laid 
upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. All we 
like sheep have gone astray, and the Lord hath laid 
on him the iniquity of us all." His enemies uttered 
a greater truth than they knew when they tauntingly 
said, "He saved others, himself he cannot save." If 
he would shield us from deserved wrath and from 
the storm of diabolic rage, he himself must receive 
into his own soul that which we otherwise must have 
suffered. He taught this blessed truth of substitu- 



The Protecting Shadow 103 

tion in that moment of his arrest at the garden gate, 
when he said to his pursuers, "If ye seek me, let 
these go their way." In the moment when the 
sword was being unsheathed against him who was 
God's Fellow and Equal, he turned his hand over 
the little ones, that no ill might befall them. 

Sheltered by the blood of the lamb, the first-born 
of the Hebrews were safe, while in every home of 
the Egyptians there was bitter mourning. On the 
gable roof of a humble dwelling in Germany, the 
traveler sees the figure of a lamb carved out 
of stone. If he inquires how came it there, he may 
hear in substance the following reply: A man was 
one day working upon that roof, when, through a 
misstep, he fell to the ground, many feet below. His 
fellow workmen expected him to be killed by the fall, 
but his life was saved by the presence of a lamb 
which stood upon the spot on which he lighted. Its 
soft fleece and tender flesh broke the force of his 
fall, and thus he escaped without serious injury. But 
while his life was saved, that of the lamb was sud- 
denly crushed out. It was life for life, and in token 
of his gratitude to God, and in memory of the inno- 
cent creature which had been the means of his 
preservation, the workman placed this stone figure 
of the lamb upon the roof. And it was by giving up 
his life for us that the Lord Jesus Christ is able to 
impart unto us eternal life. 

Who are they who sit with delight under the 
shadow of this blessed tree of life? In a sense, and 
to a certain degree, all who live in Gospel lands en- 



104 The Rod That Budded 



joy its shadow. Wherever the name of Jesus is 
known, there is a measure of protection to all. When 
James Russell Lowell heard free-thinkers speak 
slightingly,, scoffingly of the Bible and the blessed 
name, he said to them in reply, "Why do you not 
choose as your home places where the power of that 
name is never felt? Show me a spot on this earth 
ten miles square where the name of Jesus has never 
been heard, and I will show you a place where prop- 
erty and life are always in jeopardy/' When will 
the ungodly learn that to the presence of the 
churches, and ministers, and divine ordinances, and 
godly men and women whom they affect to despise, 
they owe all that they count most dear ? 

But there is an inner circle into which men must 
come before they can truly say, "I sat down under 
his shadow with great delight.''' It is only those 
who can call Jesus "My Beloved''' who have tasted 
of this sweetness. So long as men remain at a cold 
distance from him, he will remain to them as a root 
out of a dry ground, having no form nor comeliness, 
and no beauty that they should desire him. They 
may come even into the circle of church ordinances 
and privileges, but if they know not him, they have 
not yet tasted of this sweetness. It is not enough to 
believe that Jesus is the eternal Son of God, sent by 
the Father to redeem all who will come to him. It is 
not enough even to think of him as our God and 
Saviour. We must know him also as our Beloved, 
each one in the inmost experience of the soul. This 
is a joy which each must experience for himself, 



The Protecting Shadow 105 



though when it is found he can rejoice with others 
over his new inheritance. When one realizes that 
the love and tenderness of the Lord is a personal 
tenderness, and that he is the subject of that love, 
when he can say with the Psalmist, "Whom have I 
in heaven but thee, and there is none upon earth 
whom I desire besides thee," then he has learned to 
say, "My Beloved/' and he knows the sweetness and 
joy of resting under the shadow of his wings. 

There is a way by which we can test whether 
Christ is our Beloved or not. He who compares his 
shadow to that of the apple-tree gives us this test. 
He says, "My Beloved is mine, and I am his." And 
again, "I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved is mine" 
(Compare Song of Solomon 2 : 16 with 6:3). 
Apply the latter form of confession first. Can we 
say, "I am my Beloved's ?" "I am no longer Satan's, 
though once he led me captive, at his will. I am not 
the world's, though it presses me to conform to its 
spirit and life. I am not my own, for I have been 
bought with a price, the precious blood of the Lamb. 
I am my Beloved's. My heart is his, and he shall 
have its supreme affection. My will is his, and it 
shall bow always to his higher, holy will. My body 
is his, and it shall glorify him in all its members and 
movements. My business and possessions are his, 
and I shall use them for his glory, and the advance- 
ment of his kingdom." The moment one can truly 
say, "I am my Beloved's," he is richer far than ever 
before, though he has laid all upon his altar. For he 
can immediately add, "My Beloved is mine. His 



io6 The Rod That Budded 



righteousness is mine for my justification. His 
Spirit is mine for my guidance, comfort and sancti- 
fication. His power is mine for my protection and 
support. His infinity is mine as the extent of my 
inheritance, his eternity as its duration, and his un- 
changeableness as the rock of my rest." When one 
can say, "I am my Beloved's," then does he begin to 
sit under his shadow with great delight. 

Why is it that so few avail themselves of the 
shelter of this evergreen tree? We count the little 
chicks a silly brood, yet at the first warning of the 
mother-hen they fly to her wings for safety. 'The 
conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their 
houses in the rocks." "The stork in the heaven 
knoweth her appointed times ; and the turtle, and the 
crane, and the swallow observe the time of their com- 
ing; but my people know not the judgment of the 
Lord." Happy all who can say, 

"My home shall thy pavilion be; 
To covert of thy wings I'll flee, 
And find deliverance." 



CHAPTER XL 



FRUIT FROM THE TREE OF LIFE 

"His fruit was sweet to my taste." — Song of Songs 2 : 3. 

WHEN an invitation is extended to sit down 
under the shade of any tree of delight and 
to eat of its pleasant fruit, we do well to 
examine its character and claims. Listening to 
the wily invitations and false representations of the 
serpent, our first parents plucked fruit from the 
forbidden tree in the garden and ate thereof, 
in the face of the divine warning, "In the day 
thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." So 
now when gracious invitations are extended to 
partake of fruit which promises to enlighten the 
eyes and to fill the soul with holy delight, the mis- 
trusting heart surmises that there must be some 
delusion in so rich a prize, some lurking danger 
hidden beneath the foliage of the tree which bears 
such precious fruit. The same tempter who lured 
our first parents to take of that which God had for- 
bidden now uses all his seductive arts to prevent 
mankind from partaking of the fruit of the tree of 
life which has been once more planted in God's gar- 
den upon the earth. Upon no one end has the devil 
so centred his efforts since the fall, as to keep souls 



io8 The Rod That Budded 



aloof from the Lord Jesus Christ. Little cares he 
how punctiliously a man offers prayers and attends 
ordinances, so long as he can keep him from living 
touch with the living Saviour. He deludes multi- 
tudes into the fancy that they are eating fruit from 
the tree of life, when they are only partaking of the 
husks which lie near its trunk. 

It is well worth while, therefore, to consider the 
claims made for the tree of life, that we may have 
no hesitancy to come near to it, to rest with perfect 
confidence under its shadow, and to pluck and eat 
of its precious fruit. Here is the testimony of one 
who had tried every earthly source of satisfaction 
and delight, who could say, "I planted me vine- 
yards, I made me gardens and orchards, and I 
planted trees in them of all kinds of fruits . . . 
whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, 
I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart 
rejoiced in all my labor that I had labored to do ; and 
behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and 
there was no profit under the sun." But now he has 
found one tree of delight, which is as the very fruit 
of Eden to an outcast offender. Within the range 
of its goodly shadow no serpent dare enter, and with 
safety and delight he may eat and be satisfied. In- 
stead of working death, as did the fruit which Eve 
plucked from the tree of the knowledge of good and 
evil, the fruit of this tree gives life unending to all 
who partake of it. "Whoso eateth my flesh and 
drinketh my blood," says he whom this tree repre- 
sents, "hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at 



Fruit from the Tree of Life 109 

the last day." "As the living Father hath sent me, 
and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, even 
he shall live by me." 

What are some of the fruits of which those who 
sit under the shadow of this tree of life partake? 

One of the first and the most precious of these is 
the pardon of sin through faith in Jesus Christ. A 
hunger for this fruit exists in the heart of every one 
who seeks shelter under the shadow of the cross. So 
long as man fails to realize himself a sinner in God's 
sight, condemned on account of his many transgres- 
sions, he has no desire to flee to this refuge or to par- 
take of this heavenly fruit. The great aim of the 
tempter is to so flatter man in his fallen condition 
that he will have no sense of need of the pardon 
which is freely offered. He who strove to make our 
first parents discontented with their holy and happy 
estate, and who declared in face of the divine warn- 
ing that they should not surely die if they partook 
of the forbidden fruit, now strives to make them 
contented in their estate of sin and misery and to 
persuade them that they shall not surely die, even if 
they neglect the fruit from the tree of life. But one 
office of the Holy Spirit is to convince man of his 
ruined condition. He gives him, as he gave to Isaiah 
in the temple, glimpses of the holiness of God, thus 
by contrast revealing his own vileness and guilt, and 
then following with an assurance of God's willing- 
ness to pardon and save. For no sooner had the 
prophet confessed his own unworthiness than one of 
the seraphim was made to fly with the living coal 



no The Rod That Budded 



from off the altar, which symbolized the application 
of the blood of atonement by the Holy Spirit, adding 
the gracious assurance, "Lo, this hath touched thy 
lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin 
purged/' Listen to some of the gracious assurances 
of God's readiness to pardon, given through one who 
had received this gracious assurance, "I, even I, am 
he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own 
sake, and will not remember thy sins." "I have 
blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and 
as a cloud thy sins; return unto me, for I have re- 
deemed thee." 

Listen again to the song which one who had tasted 
the joy of pardoning love has taught us to sing: 
"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his 
benefits; who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who 
healeth all thy diseases. . . . He hath not dealt 
with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to 
our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the 
earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear 
him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath 
he removed our transgressions from us." He under 
whose shadow we are invited to sit and rest, and he 
only, has power on earth to forgive sins. He has 
paid the ransom price, and can now say to the right- 
eous demands of justice on behalf of every one who 
flees to him for refuge as Paul wrote to Philemon 
concerning Onesimus, "If he hath wronged thee, or 
oweth thee aught, put that on mine account." Paul 
was thus moved to write on behalf of a fellow-being 
because he himself was able to say concerning his 



Fruit from the Tree of Life 1 1 1 

Lord and Master, "In whom we have redemption 
through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according 
to the riches of his grace/ 5 

Growing on the same branch as this precious fruit 
is the peace of God, which closely follows the assur- 
ance of pardoned sin. This is a precious part of 
the Saviour's last legacy to his followers. "Peace I 
leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not as 
the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart 
be troubled, neither let it be afraid." The peace 
which he promises can be enjoyed only by a full sur- 
render to him and implicit confidence in his word. 
Paul prescribes this cure for a troubled heart, "Be 
careful for nothing ; but in everything by prayer and 
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be 
made known unto God. And the peace of God which 
passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and 
minds through Christ Jesus." The method by which 
he brings his followers into the enjoyment of this 
promised legacy was well illustrated at his first ap- 
pearance to his disciples after he was risen from the 
dead. Entering the closely barred room in which 
they were assembled, he stood in their midst and 
said unto them, "Peace be unto you," and when he 
had so said, he showed them his hands and his side. 
And it is only because he can show to us his pierced 
hands and side that he can fill our souls with the 
peace of God which passeth all understanding. He 
has made peace by the blood of his cross, and when 
we look upon him whom we have pierced, seeing our 
sins laid upon him, then we begin to enter into that 



112 The Rod That Budded 



peace which the world can neither give nor take 
away. 

Another precious fruit which grows on this tree 
is communion with our Lord and with the Father 
through the Holy Spirit. This was the chief delight 
which man forfeited by his sin in the garden. The 
restoration to such heavenly communion must there- 
fore be greatly prized by those who enter into its 
enjoyment. It is for this purpose that the Lord 
pleads for entrance into every heart. He says, "Be- 
hold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear 
my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, 
and will sup w T ith him, and he with me." He thus 
plainly declares that while the redeemed soul finds 
joy in his companionship, he also finds joyous re- 
freshment in the company of his redeemed. In his 
valedictory to his disciples, he said, "If any man 
love me, he will keep my words ; and my Father will 
love him, and we will come unto him, and make our 
abode with him/' Taken literally these words 
would read, "We will come unto him, and make our 
mansion with him," the same term being used as 
when our Lord speaks of the many mansions in his 
Father's house, as if to say that while he is preparing 
many mansions for his people in the Father's house 
above, the Holy Spirit by his gracious operations is 
preparing mansions for God upon earth in the heart 
of every one who will hear and respond to his gra- 
cious call. Amazing condescension! Yet it is no 
greater than what God has shown himself willing 
to make toward every contrite and humble soul. 



Fruit from the Tree of Life 113 

"For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabit- 
eth eternity, whose name is Holy ; I dwell in the high 
and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and 
humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and 
to revive the heart of the contrite ones." 

The sense of sonship in God's family is another 
blessed experience of those who sit under the shadow 
of the tree of life. All who rest within the circle of 
its blessed influence are indeed the sons of God. He 
sends his Spirit into their hearts to bear witness 
with their spirits that they are the children of God. 
They are his children, because they have really been 
born into his family. None will sit down in the ex- 
ercise of Christian repose but those who have been 
born of the Holy Spirit. They only can say, "Abba, 
Father." This confidence in God as their Father is 
one of the most joyous experiences of human life. 
Where it reigns in the heart, it becomes a joy to look 
up into his face and say, "Our Father who art in 
heaven," and to plead for his blessing on ourselves 
and others. A Roman emperor was returning from 
a great campaign, bearing the trophies of many vic- 
tories. The people flocked in great multitudes to 
meet and welcome him, until strong guards were 
necessary to keep them from blocking his progress 
along the Triumphal Way. While the masses stood 
back, held in check by fear of the Pretorian guard, a 
young boy boldly attempted to break through the 
line. 

"You cannot go near to the chariot," said an offi- 
cer of the guard, "that is the emperor!" 



H4 The Rod That Budded 



"I know that he is your emperor/' replied the fear- 
less youth, "but he is my father/' 

A moment later and he was embraced in his 
father's arms. It was his sense of sonship that gave 
him boldness. And it is when we come to realize 
that God, the Maker and Ruler of all things, is 
truly our Father — one with the pity of a father and 
the tenderness of a mother — that we begin to draw 
near to him in all holy confidence and joy. 

Partaking of the delight which communion with 
the indwelling Christ affords, there cannot fail to 
be a continual growth into his likeness. Without 
such a transformation salvation would not be com- 
plete. It is part of God's gracious purpose to take 
the broken fragments of humanity and build them 
up into a spiritual house which shall forever stand 
to his praise. While we have attempted to describe 
some of the fruits which grow upon the tree of life, 
let it not be forgotten that it is our Lord himself who 
is the real fruit that satisfies the soul. None of the 
promised blessings can be enjoyed apart from him. 
"He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him 
up for us all, how shall he not with him freely give 
us all things?" 



CHAPTER XII. 



FRUIT THAT SATISFIES 



"Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? 
and your labor for that which satisfieth not? Hearken dili- 
gently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your 
soul delight itself in fatness." — Isaiah 55 : 2. 



HERE is said to be a tree in tropical countries 



which has the appearance of the bread-fruit 



tree, yielding a fruit also which closely re- 
sembles that yielded by the bread-fruit tree. This 
fruit is not unpleasant to the taste, but after one has 
partaken of it, it does not satisfy the hunger, nor 
yield strength to those who partake of it. Possibly 
the prophet had such a tree in mind when he raised 
the query, "Wherefore do ye spend money for that 
which is not bread, and your labor for that which 
satisfieth not?" Solomon may have had some un- 
satisfying, deceptive fruit in mind when he wrote: 
"Bread of deceit is sweet to a man, but afterwards 
his mouth shall be filled with gravel/ ' 

In the last analysis, the very best that earth can 
offer is "bread which satisfieth not." There is al- 
ways more or less of disappointment in all earthly 
attainments. We do not find in them the full 
measure of satisfaction which we anticipated, and 




n6 The Rod That Budded 



there is a heart hunger which they cannot appease. 
But the fruit from the tree of life is that which yields 
fullest satisfaction and strength. 

Yet how difficult it is to persuade men to come to 
this tree and partake of its pleasant fruits! The 
same tempter who enticed our first parents to par- 
take of the forbidden fruit is as successful in per- 
suading the mass of mankind to neglect the fruit 
which alone can yield fruit unto life eternal. When 
one does at last come and partake of its fruit, it is 
often after he has tasted every other means of satis- 
faction, and has found them disappointing. The 
prodigal son would not return to his father's house, 
where there was bread enough and to spare, until 
he had tried to satisfy himself with the husks that 
the swine did eat. He had grown sick of home be- 
fore he took his journey into the far country, but 
he must become just as homesick for that father's 
house before he would set out to seek it. And there 
must be a heart-hunger for the love and pardon of 
the heavenly Father before men will seek that pardon 
and favor. He who is the tree of life, and the bread 
of life, is continually saying, "Come unto me," but 
the great mass of mankind have no relish for the 
food which he offers. They will not come near until 
they begin to experience that heart-hunger which the 
prodigal felt for his father's house when he was 
feeding among the swine. 

The process by which many souls are brought 
near is well illustrated by the story of Joseph and his 
brothers. Unknown to themselves they were being 



Fruit That Satisfies 



117 



brought near unto him whom they had wronged, and 
prepared for reconciliation with him. First, the 
famine in the far-off land made it necessary for 
them to go down to Egypt, where they heard that 
bread might be had. No wonder that they looked 
one upon another when their father spoke of their 
going down to that land, for the memory of the great 
injustice of their lives was associated with its name. 
Never would they have gone to Egypt if dire neces- 
sity had not driven them there. Especially after they 
had once appeared before the governor of Egypt, 
nothing less than starvation for themselves and their 
little ones as the only alternative would have made 
them willing to brave his displeasure again. Through 
their experience in his presence they had been pain- 
fully reminded of the wrong of which they had been 
guilty toward their long absent brother. Once more 
they could hear his cries of anguish proceeding from 
the pit at Dothan — cries produced by their cruelty, 
which the crow r ded events of twenty-two years had 
not been sufficient to drown. 

And the sincerity of their humility and love one 
for another was to be more severely put to the test. 
The missing cup is found in Benjamin's sack, and 
the governor has decided that he with whom it was 
found must remain a prisoner and a bondman with 
him. Then follows that tender plea of Judah's, the 
man who first proposed to sell Joseph as a slave — in 
which he proposes to remain as a slave that Benjamin 
might be restored to their father, and that his pledge 
to him might be fulfilled. Then Joseph could no 



1 1 8 The Rod That Budded 



longer refrain from making himself known to his 
brothers. He could ask no further evidence of the 
state of their heart toward their father and toward 
their youngest brother. And before any soul will 
draw near to Jesus to partake of the fruit of the 
tree of life, there must be a deep sense of unworthi- 
ness in the sight of him to whom we draw near, and 
a willingness to yield ourselves as his obedient ser- 
vants. 

When Joseph made himself known to his brothers, 
he spoke to them in their own language. Hitherto 
he had spoken through an interpreter. Xow that the 
time has come to throw aside the mask, he speaks to 
them in their own mother tongue. And when Jesus 
makes himself known as our joy and peace, he also 
speaks to the heart in a voice that cannot be misun- 
derstood. This intimate revelation of himself to the 
heart is itself the very essence of the satisfaction 
which he supplies to them who seek him. Back of 
the voice stands the speaker ; back of the gift is the 
Giver. And it is his presence and favor, not the 
blessings of his hand alone, that brings joy and 
strength and peace. 

The invitation to partake of the tree of life is as 
wide and free as the mercy of God can make it. The 
contrast between the bread which satisfieth not, and 
"that which is good/' given by the prophet Isaiah, 
follows immediately upon the gracious invitation, 
"Ho. every one that thirsteth! Come ye, buy and 
eat!" Gracious parables were spoken by our Lord, 
setting forth salvation under the figure of a feast, 



Fruit That Satisfies 119 



and authorizing his servants to carry the invitation 
to all classes and conditions. And on the last page 
of the inspired volume, after a picture has been 
drawn of the blessedness of those who partake of 
the fruit of the tree of life, this world-wide invita- 
tion is extended: "The Spirit and the bride say, 
Come. And let him that is athirst come. And who- 
soever will, let him take the water of life freely." 
No one can say that the pictures of heavenly blessed- 
ness are tantalizing, in that they set before him 
visions of bliss to which he can never hope to at- 
tain, for no one who hears the Gospel message is 
left without a special invitation to enter into that 
blessedness which is thus described. 

There are two classes of persons who are in special 
danger of neglecting this invitation — those who re- 
gard themselves as too good to need such a redemp- 
tion as the Gospel offers, and those who consider 
themselves as altogether too vile and unworthy to 
entertain the hope of being admitted into the abiding 
presence of God. The self-confidence of the former 
class is swept away by the revelation that only they 
whose names are in the Lamb's book of life shall 
enter in through the gates into the city. The despair 
of the latter should give way before the message of 
him who is the Bright and the Morning Star. 
"Whosoever will, let him take of the water of 
life freely." 

The self-righteous soul should consider what 
Jesus came to save as well as whom he came to 
save. Many are in danger of missing the rich heri- 



120 The Rod That Budded 



tage of such precious messages as "The Son of man 
is come to seek and to save that which was lost," by 
wrongly supposing that they are above the need of 
such a message. They see in it glad tidings for the 
despised publican of Jericho. They see in it a glad 
message for the outcasts of to-day — forgetting per- 
haps that all men are outcasts from the favor of God 
until his mercy seeks them and brings them into his 
blessed companionship. But when we consider what 
he came to save, as well as whom he came to save, 
we see that no one has passed beyond the need of this 
message, no matter how far advanced in the Chris- 
tian life he may be. Jesus came to restore, not only 
our lost standing with God, but the lost likeness to 
him and all the privileges of the sons of God, and 
until we have exhausted all of these we have an un- 
appropriated interest in the message, "The Son of 
man is come to seek and to save that which was 
lost." 

Well may the apostle speak of this as "so great sal- 
vation." It is not merely deliverance from wrath, 
though for that alone the redeemed shall render 
praise through eternity. But salvation includes in- 
finitely more than this. Richard Baxter in one of 
his thrilling sermons used to picture one of the re- 
deemed in heaven being led by an angel to the verge 
of the dark abyss which shall be the abode of the lost 
forever and ever, and saying to him, "That would 
have been your portion but for the blood of the 
Lamb." Then pointing to the mountains of glory 
rising tier on tier around the throne of God, he 



Fruit That Satisfies 121 



would say, "That by the grace of God shall be your 
portion thousands of ages hence." 

Salvation! What heart can conceive, what 
tongue can tell, what pen can write the boundless 
possibilities wrapped up in the word? A living 
minister has said that to give the measure of the 
great salvation freely offered in the Gospel we must 
draw a line from the lowest depths of the bottom- 
less abyss up to the highest summit of heavenly 
glory and multiply it by eternity. When one nas 
found the product of these factors he may g' e the 
length and breadth, height and depth, of man's re- 
demption. 

Two trees stood before our first parents in the 
garden — the tree of life and the tree of death. Had 
they eaten of the former they would have lived for- 
ever. But enticed by the delusive promises of the 
tempter, they partook of the forbidden fruit and 
brought death upon themselves and upon all man- 
kind. To-day the two trees stand before our eyes 
and the Master graciously, tenderly pleads with us 
to choose life rather than death. With his pierced, 
bleeding hands he offers fruit unto everlasting life, 
pleading with all his great heart of love to accept 
it as his gracious gift. The Father pleads also 
through his Spirit and his ambassadors to accept 
his hand of reconciliation and live. A husband 
and wife who had been long estranged met at the 
new-made grave of their only child. After the 
coffin had been lowered, and the little funeral com- 
pany had turned to depart, the father, standing on 



122 The Rod That Budded 



the opposite side of the grave from the mother, ex- 
tended his hand to her and said, "We have grown 
estranged one from the other, but here over the open 
grave of our only boy let us pledge anew our troth 
in the presence of these witnesses/' To-day, across 
the open grave of his only Son, the Father reaches 
down his hand to his rebellious, erring children, say- 
ing to them one and all, "If thy heart be right with 
my heart, as my heart is with thine, give me thy 
hana." 

Wh> do so many who hear and know the joyful 
sound continue to reject this gracious, loving offer? 
It is not because it is not f reefy, sincerely made ; not 
because it does not set before them the infinitely 
better way; not because the way of life has not been 
made sufficiently plain. The wise man seems to 
point to the answer in many cases when he speaks 
of those who are "holden by the cords of their in- 
iquities. " They are like the vessel which makes no 
progress though wind and wave beat mightily upon 
it, for the unseen cable is anchored to earth beneath, 
and keeps it from moving forward. Blessed are 
they who are anchored to "that within the vail," 
and who are steadily, silently drawn nearer to the 
Father's home by the cords of faith and love. But 
how different the condition of those who are bound 
to earth by the lusts of the flesh and are thus hin- 
dered from going forward to partake of the tree of 
life! Felix trembled as Paul reasoned of righteous- 
ness, temperance and judgment to come, but he was 
not willing to break away from sin's fascinations, 



Fruit That Satisfies 123 

and he remained a prisoner unto death. The rich 
young ruler came running to Jesus, and kneeling be- 
fore him, eagerly inquired, "What shall I do that I 
may inherit eternal life?" Jesus well knew that 
his heart was holden back from the way of life by 
his love of gold ; therefore he said to him, "Go, sell 
all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and come, 
follow me!" But his love for gold was stronger 
than his love for God and his longing for life, and 
he turned from the Saviour and went away sorrow- 
ful. 

The forbidden tree grows rank and plentifully 
wherever human souls are found, and too many de- 
light to feed upon its fruit rather than on that which 
grows on the tree of life; and yet the warning still 
rings in their ears, "In the day thou eatest thereof 
thou shalt surely die." One winter's day, an eagle 
saw a carcass floating down one of our western 
rivers, and lighting upon it began to gorge itself 
with carrion. They were rapidly approaching a 
steep cataract, and when the carcass began to make 
the plunge the eagle raised its wings and tried to 
fly away. But while it fed, its talons had become 
frozen to the beast on which it stood, and now it 
found itself a helpless prisoner, bound by icy fet- 
ters to that body of corruption on which it had 
feasted with delight. It h id had a feast of carrion, 
but it was a feast unto deati. Would that those who 
are feeding upon the fruit li the tree of death would 
have their eyes opened to bee that while they feast 
upon it, they are being fettered to that which will 



124 The Rod That Budded 



carry them down to eternal death, if the hand of an 
Almighty Deliverer does not set them free! 

In the announcement of himself as the bread of 
life Jesus declares the abundantly satisfying nature 
of the soul food which he graciously offers. "I am 
the bread of life; he that cometh to me shall never 
hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never 
thirst." Here is bread that satisfies both hunger 
and thirst. It was not so with the manna. 
Scarcely had it begun to fall around the tents of 
the Hebrews when the bitter cry went up against 
Moses, "Wherefore is this that thou hast brought 
us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and 
our cattle with thirst/' and God caused the smitten 
rock to send forth streams of water to satisfy this 
great need. But Jesus is both the bread and the 
water of life. It is no mixing of figures when the 
Scriptures speak of him, now as one and now as the 
other, now as the light of the world, now as the 
door and now as the good shepherd, for it requires 
all the similitudes of earth to set forth his fulness 
and richness of grace, and even when all have been 
exhausted we have seen but a small part of his 
ways. When he said to Philip concerning the mul- 
titudes in the desert, "Whence shall we buy bread 
that these may eat?" Philip might have answered, 
"Lord, we have neither money nor meat, but we 
have thee, and thou opei thine hand and supplieth 
the wants of all that The soul that feeds 

upon Jesus has found :ad which satisfieth." 



CHAPTER XIII. 



THE TREE OF HEALING 



"And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of 
the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. And the people 
murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And 
he cried unto the Lord ; and the Lord showed him a tree, 
which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made 
sweet." — Exodus 15:23-25. 



OD'S method of grace treats with mankind 



as a race of invalids, as beings who have 



fallen under the power of a deadly disease. 
At his creation man was endowed with the power of 
an endless life, but "dying thou shalt die" was the 
sentence that went into operation from the moment 
of his first transgression. To-day the world is one 
vast hospital. John's picture of Bethesda's porches 
may be extended to take in the whole world — "In 
these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of 
blind, of halt, of withered, waiting for the moving 
of the water." 

The people of Israel had not gone far on their 
march to liberty when they met with reminders of 
the blight that had fallen upon the earth. They had 
sung their song of triumph on the shores of the Red 
Sea, but a three days' march brought to a place 




126 The Rod That Budded 



where was no water, and when at last they did find 
a spring or well, lo, its waters were bitter, and they 
could not drink of them. As usual they fell to com- 
plaining, but Moses appealed to him who had broken 
the yoke of bondage and had delivered them from 
the hand of their oppressors with an outstretched 
arm, and he directed him to cast a tree into the 
waters, which when he had done, the waters were 
made sweet. This gave opportunity for the Lord 
to reveal his gracious power, and he said to his 
people, as they drank of the sweetened waters, "If 
thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the 
Lord thy God ... I will put none of these dis- 
eases upon thee which I have brought upon the 
Egyptians; for I am JEHOVAH-ROPHEKA, I 
am the Lord that healeth thee." 

Many do not value health as they should while 
they enjoy it, but when it is gone they place upon it 
a priceless estimate. What would not the poor 
consumptive, or the fever-stricken patient, or the 
paralytic give for a complete restoration to the old- 
time health and vigor? The rich man lies upon a 
silken couch, racked with pains or held a prisoner 
by infirmities of the flesh, and envies the poor beg- 
gar who has strength to carry him here and there 
at will. The invalid king envies his humble subject, 
and would gladly exchange places with him, though 
his own chair is a throne, and his walking stick a 
golden scepter. No prize would he withhold from 
the physician who could disarm the malady which 
has laid hold upon him, and set the currents of 



The Tree of Healing 



127 



youthful energy and vitality tingling once more 
through his veins. In search of health men cross 
continents and seas, absenting themselves from 
home and all its comforts, expending whole for- 
tunes in seeking the restoration of that which was 
once freely bestowed, but which they then recklessly 
abused and hopelessly impaired. 

So men prize health in its lowest form — the 
health of the physical frame. Still higher is the 
estimate placed upon the health of the mental facul- 
ties, especially when they have become diseased or 
dethroned. One of the saddest places we can enter 
is the asylum for the imbecile, the inebriate, or the 
lunatic. See what wrecks of humanity are congre- 
gated here ! Hear their senseless ravings ! See the 
vacant stare upon the face! Note the fiery glance 
of the blood-shot eye! Consider the wild fancies 
which float through their brain, and which find par- 
tial embodiment in their disconnected words ! Here 
and there we detect flashes of wit, or gleams of in- 
telligence, w T hich reveal the greatness of the wreck 
before which we stand. One cannot stand in the 
presence of a mind diseased or dethroned without 
having evidence of the need of thankfulness for the 
preservation of reason — a blessing for which too 
many never think to render thanks. 

And what shall we say of the value of health in 
its highest form — the moral and spiritual health and 
vigor of the soul? If we do not prize the "beauty 
of holiness/' it is because our judgments have be- 
come so perverted, our vision so dimmed and dis- 



128 The Rod That Budded 



torted, that we are no longer able to place a true 
estimate upon its worth. We are so accustomed to 
seeing a world out of joint, man untrue to his 
Creator and false to his fellow man, that we think 
but little of it. We have lost all true conception of 
the beauty of holiness and the abnormity and enor- 
mity of sin. It is only as we contrast the life of the 
Perfect Man, and of those who most nearly follow 
his pattern, that we begin to form any true concep- 
tion of the moral and spiritual derangement to 
which our race is now heir. When we consider that 
man is made capable of loving, and yet does not 
love the most lovable Being in the universe; when 
we remember that he is made to trust, yet places no 
confidence in him who alone is fully trustworthy; 
when man can look upon the greatest manifestation 
of mercy and love — God's gift of his only Son — 
and yet not have his affections stirred by one im- 
pulse of gratitude, we begin to understand how 
completely depraved and paralyzed his moral powers 
have been. Especially sad is the picture when we 
remember that within the range of man's own ef- 
forts there is absolutely no remedy for this fatally 
fallen condition. Correspondingly thankful should 
we be when we remember that God has provided a 
Healer who is able to cure every malady, to read- 
just the disordered relations between God and man, 
between father and son, between brother and 
brother, between man and his neighbor. It is with 
a glad note of promise that the volume of the Old 
Testament revelation closes: "Unto you that fear 



The Tree of Healing 129 



my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with 
healing in his wings." When at last the promised 
Redeemer appeared, it was in his capacity as 
Healer that he first specially manifested himself. 
The first miracle of judgment which fell upon the 
rebellious Egyptians was the turning of water into 
blood. The first miracle of mercy wrought for Is- 
rael after their deliverance at the Red Sea was the 
sweetening of the bitter waters of Marah. The first 
miracle wrought by the promised Redeemer was the 
changing of water into the wine that imparts health 
and vigor. 

It was as Healer that Jesus was especially wel- 
comed in Galilee and Judea. No case too difficult 
for him to heal was ever laid at his feet. To the 
man full of leprosy he said, "Be thou clean/' and 
his flesh became again like that of a little child. He 
took the fever-stricken patient by the hand, and she 
arose and ministered to those who had been waiting 
around her couch. He said to the paralytic, "Rise, 
take up thy bed and walk," and he immediately arose 
in the presence of those who had known his helpless- 
ness for years. He touched the sightless eyeballs, 
and vision was restored to him whose life had been 
one continual night. He spoke to the dead, and they 
went forth in strength and beauty, for with him who 
spoke were the issues of life. 

When Jesus imparted health to sickly and dis- 
eased bodies, he only furnished a shadow or reflec- 
tion of the higher blessing conferred upon man when 
he came to provide healing for the soul. See what 



130 The Rod That Budded 



gracious transformations were wrought upon those 
who followed closely in his footsteps. It was long 
before his chosen followers could rise above those 
petty jealousies and aspirations which led them to 
contend, " Which of us shall be the greatest?" But 
when the Spirit of all grace was poured upon them 
in pentecostal fulness, we see no more such childish 
jealousies. The fiery Boanergis became the tender 
self-denying apostle of love. The fiery persecutor 
Saul became the fearless preacher of redemption 
through the blood. The hard-hearted Philippian 
jailer was changed into a humane, tender-hearted 
host who ministered to the necessities of the men 
whom a few hours before he had thrust scarred and 
bleeding into the dungeon, and had made their feet 
fast in the stocks. 

God's method of healing is always thorough. 
Human reformers can only lop off the outer 
branches of the obnoxious tree. The grace of God 
goes to the very heart and eradicates the roots. 
After men have done their best, he who knows all 
things is compelled to testify, "They have healed 
the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly." 
But it is not so with the efficacious work of grace. 
Men may whitewash their sinful souls; God alone 
can wash them white. Moses cast the tree into the 
well of waters at Marah, and they were thoroughly 
and permanently healed. Elisha directed the sons 
of the prophets to cast salt into the spring at Jericho, 
and its waters remain pure and sweet unto this day. 
The gracious Healer for whom the tree of life here 



The Tree of Healing 131 



stands says to every one, as he said to the impotent 
man at Bethesda, "Wilt thou be made whole ?" And 
what is wholeness but holiness, that perfect sound- 
ness of the moral and spiritual nature which causes 
man to recognize his true relation to God and to his 
fellow creatures, and which imparts ability to meet 
the obligations that grow out of these relations? 
The Lord Jesus was able to bestow perfect sound- 
ness upon the man at Bethesda, and his grace re- 
stores perfect harmony to the disordered faculties 
of mind and soul. He who sends refreshing showers 
to regladden the face of nature, sends also the ful- 
ness of his Spirit to impart new health and vitality 
to all who will receive him. For what is the work of 
sanctification but the progressive restoration to 
moral and spiritual wholeness of those whose facul- 
ties were so disordered by sin ? Such a restoration is 
within the reach of all who have heard the messages 
of redemption. The impotent man had lain for 
thirty-eight years, vainly hoping that some one 
would place him in the troubled pool until now he 
had lost heart and hope. But when the Great 
Healer stands in his presence, he bids him rise, take 
up his bed and walk, and immediately new vigor 
and health were imparted to his being. 

The patient has his part to do in seeking restora- 
tion to health. The prescribed remedies must be 
taken or applied. The prescribed care must be ob- 
served. Forbidden articles of diet must be avoided, 
or a new and more invigorating atmosphere must 
be inhaled. And the Great Physician has prescribed 



132 The Rod That Budded 



means of healing. The leaves from the tree of life 
are for the healing of the nations. Of the trees 
which Ezekiel saw growing on either bank of the 
river of life it is said that the leaves were good for 
medicine. These leaves must be applied to our sin- 
sick souls. These leaves are the precepts, the prom- 
ises, and all the gracious revelations of the Inspired 
Word. He who neglects to turn its pages and apply 
the remedy which it prescribes has no more right to 
expect that healing for his soul than has the pa- 
tient who would disregard the physician's direc- 
tions. But to those who diligently use such means 
the Sun of righteousness will arise with healing in 
his wings. When friends inquired of Richard Bax- 
ter how he felt, a few moments before his departure 
from earth, he replied, "I am almost well." A little 
later it might have been said of him, "He is alto- 
gether well," for he had gone to a land where the 
inhabitants never say, "I am sick." 

To every one who reads this message a hand of 
healing is this day extended. In that hand there is 
a wound, and from that wound there flows the 
blood that will wash away the deepest guilt stains, 
and infuse new life and power wherever it is laid. 
It is the hand of him who graciously inquires, "Wilt 
thou be made whole?" 

The chief instrument by which our Lord wrought 
his miracles of healing was his word. He said to 
the leper, "Be thou clean," and immediately his flesh 
became as pure as a little child's. He said to the 
blind man, "Be it according to thy faith," and im- 



The Tree of Healing 



*33 



mediately he received sight, and he followed Jesus 
in the way. He said to the paralytic, "Rise, take up 
thy bed, and go unto thine house/' and immediately 
he rose, took up that whereon he lay, and went unto 
his house. Sometimes it was a word of command. 
Again it was a word of promise. But wherever his 
word found a hearty response, it carried with it a 
healing power. So it is yet. It is true now as when 
the Psalmist wrote, "He sent his word and healed 
them." With his truth he also connects the events 
of his providence and the gracious operations of the 
Holy Spirit. "Blending together the fingers of his 
providence and grace, he touches therewith each 
event and circumstance connected with the diversi- 
fied experience of his people, and enlists each as an 
aid in carrying on this great work." 

This tree of life is a veritable panacea for all the 
maladies of the soul. In many hospitals there are 
wards for incurables, and sometimes entire homes 
are provided for this class of patients. With all the 
advancement of medical skill, the healing art has 
no message of cheer for them. But it is not so with 
the Great Healer. There are no wards for incur- 
ables in his house of healing, no incurables among 
his patients. There is no soul so hardened in sin 
but his grace can soften and subdue it, and trans- 
form it into an instrument to reflect the glory of 
his grace. Among those who were brought to 
Jesus in the days when he was healing men's bodies 
were many on whom the best physicians had ex- 
hausted all their skill, but none of their cases were 



134 The Rod That Budded 



too hard for him. He graciously received all who 
came, "and he healed them all." 

Here is hope for all who will hear his voice. 
Oftentimes the mariner finds himself in waters so 
deep that his anchor is of no use to him. Their 
cables will not fathom the great depths beneath, and 
he can only battle with wind and waves, or be driven 
before them. But there are no waters so deep that 
the trusting soul cannot drop the anchor of hope 
with the assurance that it will take firm hold upon 
the Rock. 

In darker ages the disease now known as scrofula 
was called "The King s Evil," from a long-cherished 
belief that scrofulous tumors and abscesses could 
be cured by the royal touch. Some old writers 
assert that this power was exercised from the time 
of Edward the Confessor to the reign of Queen 
Anne. Others give expression to the equally ill- 
founded notion that this power did not descend to 
later sovereigns because they did not possess a full 
hereditary title or "the divine right" to the throne. 
That is to say, men would make the power to heal 
such maladies the test of the right to reign. 

There is One who by exercising his healing power 
proved himself entitled to the loyalty of all mankind. 
No form of disease was beyond his power to cure. 
The leper was made clean at his touch. The para- 
lytic received new life and power at his words. The 
blind received sight. The ears of the deaf were 
unstopped, and the lame was made to leap as the 
hart. Even the dead were restored to life at his 



The Tree of Healing 135 

word. And what Jesus did for the bodies of men, 
he is continually doing for the deeper and more 
deadly maladies of the soul. He has thus abun- 
dantly proven his right to the homage and submis- 
sion of all mankind. 

Often we are almost ready to despair of the com- 
plete cure of our soul maladies. When we begin to 
feel that we are free from some old besetment, it 
comes upon us with renewed power, and threatens 
to blight all our hopes. We find a parallel to this 
in the experience of the Hebrew people. With all 
the joyousness and enthusiasm which attends a new- 
found freedom they started from the land of bond- 
age for their promised inheritance. They had been 
redeemed with a great redemption. He who had 
proudly and persistently refused to let them go, had 
at last relented when the stroke of the destroying 
angel had fallen upon the first-born, and had bidden 
them hasten to be gone. They thought they had 
seen the last of their old masters and the last of the 
old oppression. But they had not gone far until 
they found themselves entangled at the Red Sea 
with their old oppressors in hot pursuit. Then they 
cried unto God, almost despairing of relief. They 
had little faith that he who with a mighty hand and 
an outstretched arm had delivered them from bond- 
age was able to save them now in the hour of im- 
minent peril. 

How like the common experience of the Christian 
life this part of Israel's march to liberty. Those 
who enlist under King Jesus have been saved with 



136 The Rod That Budded 



a mighty redemption. Not only have they found 
shelter from coming storms of wrath, but they have 
been delivered from the dominion of a cruel and 
mighty oppressor. Satan is no feeble adversary. 
He is compared to a lion, the king of the forest. He 
is called the prince of darkness, the prince of the 
power of the air. He is represented as controlling 
principalities and powers. To be saved from his 
dominion is no small deliverance. Well may those 
who feel that the shackles of his slavery have been 
broken rejoice in their sense of new-found freedom. 
It is not strange that they are ready to say, after 
they have felt the first flush of a genuine love for 
their new Master, "Sin shall never again have the 
attraction for me that it once had. Henceforth I 
am Christ's freeman, free from Satan's shackles 
and yoke." But the Christian does not go far in 
his pilgrimage until he finds old spiritual enemies 
pursuing, old temptations reasserting their power, 
old weaknesses of the flesh manifesting themselves 
anew. And how natural it is to grow disheartened 
at the outlook and to become disposed to return to 
the old life. So the Hebrews felt at the Red Sea. 
They thought it was either a return to bondage, or 
annihilation in the desert. But God did not suffer 
either calamity to overwhelm them. He who had 
once rescued them from their mighty oppressors 
was able again to deliver them from their hands, 
though they pursued them with horses and chariots. 
So is he who once rescued us from sin's dominion 
able to deliver from every possible danger that may 



The Tree of Healing 137 



subsequently threaten us. He will lead us into no 
conditions from which he. is unable to deliver us. 
With every temptation which he permits to come 
upon us he will open a way of escape. 

May we learn to call him Jehovah-Ropheka, the 
Lord our Healer. To this end we need to realize 
more the nearness of God as a present living power 
in our lives. We can see the golden thread of his 
gracious purpose running through other lives, es- 
pecially of those who lived in bygone ages or in far- 
away climes, but we are so blind to the touches of 
his gentle hand upon ourselves. Our thoughts of 
him are much like the child's thought of the blue 
heavens that bend above us. Looking backward far 
as eye can reach he sees a point where heaven seems 
to bend down and kiss the earth. Looking forward 
and on either side heaven and earth seem to meet, 
but always far away. From the point on which he 
stands heaven is far beyond his reach. It is only 
they who live on the distant horizon who live near 
to heaven. The maturer mind knows that the blue 
dome overhead is only the air seen en masse, and 
that heaven is as near to the spot on which we stand 
as to the most distant point on the horizon. Then 
will we learn that God is as near to us as he was to 
Abraham, and Joseph, and Moses ; as near to-day as 
when we come to pass through the valley that leads 
to the portals of glory? 

Sometimes we almost envy those who felt his 
healing power when he was on earth. We can al- 
most wish that we had been the blind, or the lame, 



138 The Rod That Budded 



or the dumb, or even the dead, or the poor outcast 
leper, that we might have felt his compassionate 
touch, and heard his gentle yet all-powerful voice. 
We are blind, we are paralytics, we are deaf and 
dumb, we are dead in sin, we are covered with sin's 
leprosy which makes us outcasts from God's gra- 
cious presence. And Jesus is willing and able to 
heal us of all these maladies. To every impotent 
and diseased soul he is saying, "Wilt thou be made 
whole ?" 

"Hast thou come, my friend, in thy wilderness 
way, to the place of bitter waters ? Canst thou not 
drink of the stream, even though thy thirst be burn- 
ing and thy strength be wasted ? Know thou, there 
is a tree the leaves of which are for the healing of 
the nations ! A tree ? Truly so ; but a tree as yet 
without a leaf — a tree bare as the frosts and the 
winds of winter can make it, the great, grim, dear, 
sad, wondrous Cross of the Son of God ! Some have 
sought to touch the wells of life with other trees, 
but have only aggravated the disease which they 
sought to cure. By the grace of Heaven others have 
been enabled to apply the Cross to the bitter wells of 
their sin and grief, and behold the waters have be- 
come clear as the crystal river which flows fast by 
the throne of God." — Joseph Parker. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



FLOWERS FOR ADORNMENT 



"Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us." — 
Psalm go : 17. 



HIS is a marvelous prayer found in the oldest 



song in the psalter. It would be a great 



privilege to be encouraged to pray that we 
might be clothed with the highest types of earthly 
beauty. For, marred though this world is by sin, 
it retains much of loveliness. God must love beau- 
tiful things or he would not have made so many 
of them. Every leaf on the countless trees in a 
thousand forests bears the tracery of his matchless 
fingers. Every flower in field or garden, or on the 
beaten highway, displays a loveliness surpassing the 
noblest art of man. Every rain-drop contains a 
world of beauty, reflecting the colors of the rainbow 
in the sunlight. Even the flowers that seem born to 
"waste their fragrance on the desert air" do not 
bloom unseen, for the eye of their Creator rests 
upon them and rejoices in them. Whether we turn 
our eyes to earth or heaven, we see the lines of 
beauty which his fingers have traced, for the heavens 
declare his glory and the firmament showeth his 




140 The Rod That Budded 



handiwork. Yet he authorizes his children to seek 
a beauty far surpassing any that he has made to 
spring out of earth. 

Neither has he limited us to the beauty of angels, 
lovely beyond description as they must be. They 
are clothed with an immortal youthhood. Those 
which stood guard over the tomb of our Lord ap- 
peared as young men, though they may have been 
among the sons of God who shouted for joy at the 
creation of the worlds. When the Spirit of inspi- 
ration would convey an idea of the beauty of 
Stephen's countenance when he sat before the 
Council to bear witness to his Lord, he tells us that 
his face did shine as an angel's. The moral beauty 
of angels is held before us as something for which 
we should daily pray, for they do the will of their 
Father cheerfully, unquestionably, promptly, per- 
fectly. Yet there is a beauty far surpassing theirs 
— that of their Father and ours, and this we are 
authorized to seek when we are encouraged to pray, 
"Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us." 

In the construction of his early sanctuary, as well 
as in the building of a universe, God made provision 
for adornment as well as for endurance. " Strength 
and beauty are in his sanctuary." He who has 
given to the landscape its ever-changing beauty and 
grandeur, who floods earth and sky with the glories 
of a setting sun, must be greater than all his works 
in moral beauty and grandeur, and he has taught us 
to pray, "Let the beauty of the Lord our God be 
upon us !" Then can we also pray, "And establish 



Flowers for Adornment 141 



thou the work of our hands." For there must be 
beauty of personal character before the service of 
our hands can be acceptable unto God. Being must 
come before doing. Emerson spoke a truth when 
he said, "What you are speaks so loud I cannot hear 
what you say." The Ephesians were condemned, 
not for a sin of doing or of not doing, but for not 
being what they had once been. "I have against 
thee, that thou hast left thy first love." When the 
beauty of God rests upon us and shines out through 
every word and deed, his hand will certainly estab- 
lish the work of our hands. 

God placed his own beauty upon man at his crea- 
tion, and now that he has lost it through sin he war- 
rants us to seek its restoration through him who 
came to seek and save that which was lost. He 
created man holy and upright, but the image of 
moral loveliness which was stamped upon his soul 
has been sadly defaced. The beauty of holiness was 
marred. The spirit of childlike innocence and trust 
was lost. His will became perverse, the imagina- 
tion corrupt, the understanding darkened and 
blunted. Yet now are we encouraged to seek a 
complete restoration to all that has been lost when 
we are authorized to pray, "Let the beauty of the 
Lord our God be upon us." 

God places upon his children a matchless beauty 
when he imputes to them the perfect righteousness 
of his Son Jesus Christ. In no other way can they 
be justified in his sight and admitted to the standing 
and privileges of the sons of God. There was an 



142 The Rod That Budded 



acted parable of this fundamental truth in the days 
following the return from Babylon. Zechariah the 
prophet saw Joshua the high priest standing before 
the Lord in filthy garments, and Satan standing also 
to accuse him. But when God justifieth who is he 
that condemneth? he said to those who stood near 
the high priest, "Take away the filthy garments 
from him." To Joshua he said, "Behold, I have 
caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will 
clothe thee with change of raiment." And to the 
attendants he said again, "Let them set a fair mitre 
upon his head." And they set the mitre upon his 
head and clothed him with beautiful garments. 
And the lips of the great accuser were silenced. 

The immortal dreamer sets forth the same gra- 
cious truth when he represents one of the three 
shining ones who came to Christian as he stood at 
the foot of the cross as placing upon him beautiful 
raiment in exchange for the unsightly rags which 
he had worn in the City of Destruction and in which 
he had worked his way through the mire of the 
Slough of Despond. Dressed in his new apparel, he 
had no reason to fear meeting with any of the 
King's servants, not even with the King himself. 

It was not without a purpose that special direc- 
tions were given for making the priestly robes in 
which Aaron and his sons were to minister before 
the Lord. While the high priest represented our 
Great High Priest who stands as our Advocate at 
the Father's right hand, the more ordinary priests 
represented the great household of Israel in whose 



Flowers for Adornment 143 



name they ministered. When they were set apart 
to that sacred ministry, they were required to bathe 
themselves in water. Then the blood of the sin- 
offering was placed upon the right ear, and upon the 
thumb of the right hand, and upon the great toe of 
the right foot, signifying that ears, hands and feet 
were to be consecrated wholly to God. Then they 
were clothed in spotless linen, in which they were 
required to burn incense upon the holy altar. That 
all this has a meaning for us we know from the 
vision given to the beloved disciple of the marriage 
supper of the Lamb, at which all who were present 
were arrayed in fine linen; to which the explana- 
tion is added, "for the fine linen is the righteousness 
of saints." Such a covering we have in the perfect 
righteousness of God, which by faith is "unto all 
and upon all them that believe/' An old writer 
used to say, "A robe I must have, of a whole piece; 
broad as the law, spotless as the light, and richer 
than ever an angel wore ; and such a robe I have in 
the righteousness of Christ." 

But the beauty of the Lord which we are com- 
manded to seek is not wholly a matter of imputa- 
tion — a beauty that can be put on from without, like 
costly ornaments or clothes. The King's daughter 
must be all glorious within, while her garments are 
of wrought gold. There is a beauty which must be 
put on like that of the lily, from the growth of the 
living germs of righteousness in the heart. Here 
also we should rest satisfied with nothing short of 
the righteousness of God as the beauty of holiness 



144 The Rod That Budded 



after which we should aspire. Twice in speaking 
of the change wrought in every believing soul the 
apostle uses the same terms as is employed in the 
Evangel in speaking of the change which came over 
the Lord's appearance on the mount of transfigura- 
tion. "He was transfigured'' — metamorphosed — 
"before them." "Be ye not conformed to this 
world;" wrote Paul to the Romans, "but be ye trans- 
formed" — metamorphosed — "by the renewing of 
your mind." And to the believers in Corinth, that 
city of such unholy atmosphere, he sent this mes- 
sage, "We all, with open face beholding as in a 
glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the 
same image" — metamorphosed — "from glory to 
glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." The 
lily springs from the mire, yet grows into purity and 
loveliness. And when the Spirit of God enters the 
human heart, he transforms it into the perfect image 
of him whose glory was seen upon the mount. 

We can now understand what the same apostle 
means when he sends this message through Titus to 
the slaves of Crete who had professed their faith in 
Jesus. "Adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in 
all things." They occupied the lowest strata among 
the people of that island, who bore an unsavory 
reputation, even in the estimate of their own poets. 
Yet it was possible for them to so adorn, or embel- 
lish, the doctrine of the holy God as to render it 
attractive in the eyes of others. And it is well es- 
tablished by the history of the early church that 
through the patience, and fidelity, and pureness, and 



Flowers for Adornment 145 



kindness of slaves, many a master or mistress was 
led to confess the name of Jesus — sometimes to suf- 
fer with their humble instructors in the dungeon or 
at the stake. When the Christ spirit is within us, it 
will cause the same graces to adorn our lives as 
shone so brightly in his life. The same ornamenta- 
tion was found on the branches of the golden candle- 
stick as on the central stem. And the Holy Spirit 
in the heart of the branches produces the same 
fruits and flowers as in the vine to which they are 
vitally united. 

The predominant flower which blooms upon this 
plant of renown — both in the central vine and in its 
branches — is love. Not that natural affection which 
is indigenous to the human heart, but that exotic 
transplanted from heaven's nursery which gives to 
the members the same spirit of unselfishness which 
so characterized the life of their Lord. His new com- 
mandment is, "Love one another as I have loved 
you." We cannot love to the same degree in which 
our Lord loves those for whom he died, but by his 
grace we may love with the same kind of love — self- 
denying, forbearing, forgiving, unfailing. One 
chief element of the beauty of the Lord our God is 
his unselfishness. He is constantly giving out to 
others. If God had been selfish, he would never 
have given his only begotten Son that whoso- 
ever believeth in him should not perish, but have 
everlasting life. And when his Spirit enters into 
our souls, he will cause the same spirit of unselfish- 
ness to be manifested in our lives. 



146 The Rod That Budded 

When has such beauty been exhibited in merely 
human lives? We see it in the life of every one 
who lays down his life for the welfare or happiness 
of others. We see it in every self-sacrificing, self- 
denying deed. We see it in the generous deed of a 
Sir Philip Sidney, who when offered the cup of 
water which he craved so much in his dying hour 
on the field of Zutphen, and seeing another soldier 
in mortal agony, quietly said, "Give it to him; his 
need is greater than mine." We see it in a General 
Charles George Gordon, to whom a memorial tablet 
in St. Paul's, London, bears this testimony: 

"Who at all times and everywhere gave his 
strength to the weak, his substance to the poor, his 
sympathy to the suffering, his heart to God. He 
saved an empire by his warlike genius. He ruled 
vast provinces with justice, wisdom and power. 
And lastly, obedient to his sovereign's command, he 
died in the heroic attempt to save men, women and 
children from imminent and deadly peril." 

We see it in a Livingstone, a Moffat, a Mackay, 
and the noble army of missionaries who have laid 
down their lives in heroic efforts to bring to per- 
ishing millions the world's only redemption from 
wretchedness and sin. We see it in a Mary Reed, 
turning her back upon a civilized world, and devot- 
ing her life to brightening the lives and the hopes 
of her fellow sufferers — the lepers of India. We 
see it in thousands of nameless lives lived in lowly 
walks, of whom the world takes but little notice, but 
who are not unseen by him who sees the twinkle of 



Flowers for Adornment 147 



the farthest star and the beauty of the humblest 
flower where no foot of man ever passes. 

True loveliness of life consists in filling cheerfully 
the place God assigns us, singing joyous songs to 
brighten and bless other lives and honor God, even 
though our praises may never be sung by those for 
whom we give forth the best energies of our lives. 
We should be like the birds of heaven, singing their 
glad notes of praise, though there be no ears to 
listen save his who gave them being. 

"God opened the windows of heaven, 

And sent forth a beautiful bird; 
A sigh and a gleam, like the joy in a dream, 
It leaped into life at his word. 

"God fashioned its pinions and plumage, 

He painted its beautiful wing; 
He placed in its throat a glorious note, 
And said, 'Go forth, and sing.' 

"Not 'for the ears that listen;' 

Not 'for the shouts that ring;' 
Not 'for men's praise of thy glorious lays/ 
But merely, oh, bird, 'Go, sing.' 

"Did it doubt? Did it pine, and falter? 
Did it furl its beautiful wing? 
Because nobody heard, did that wonderful bird 
Lose heart, and refuse to sing? 

"Nay, over the wide world speeding, 
Far over the mountain's crest, 
Away and away, to the ends of the day, 
To sing in God's wilderness. 

"And over the lone world watching, 
Where never a step is stirred, 
In the midnight's flow, God's ear bends low, 
For the song of his pilgrim bird." 



CHAPTER XV 



LEAVES FOR THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 



HE fruits of the tree of life extend to fam- 



ilies, communities, and nations, as well as to 



individuals. Jesus Christ did not assail po- 
litical, social and domestic institutions, but he did 
introduce into human society principles which were 
destined to undermine and overthrow existing 
evils which could not otherwise have been eradi- 
cated. At the time when he was laying the foun- 
dations of his kingdom, family ties were but loosely 
held. Divorce was fearfully common throughout the 
Roman empire, especially in the imperial city, so 
that one Latin satirist had room to say that Roman 
matrons reckoned their age, not by consulships, but 
by the number of their husbands. Such being the 
laxity of the ties which bound together husbands 
and wives, it might be expected that children often 
grew up neglected, and with but little respect for 
their parents. Jesus by his example and teachings 
greatly strengthened the foundations of society, by 
strongly reaffirming the original law of marriage — 
condemning polygamy, and declaring that the re- 
lation formed between husband and wife could be 
sundered only by death or the infidelity of one of 
the parties. 




The Healing of the Nations 149 

The Lord Jesus also honored the relationship of 
parentage, by humble submission to his parents at 
Nazareth, and by tenderly providing for his mother 
when on the cross. He laid his hand in benediction 
upon childhood and taught the Church and the 
world the great importance of caring for the lambs 
of the flock. Through his apostles he gave repeated 
injunctions to parents to care properly for their chil- 
dren, and to children to render due respect and 
obedience to parents. And it has come about that 
wherever the Gospel of Jesus Christ is known in 
power, there the home in all its sweetness and bless- 
edness exists. While the word home is scarcely 
known in heathen or Mohammedan countries, the 
Christian home flourishes under the shelter of the 
tree of life. The Gospel of Jesus Christ raises 
womanhood from the position of bearers of burdens 
and hewers of wood into one of honorable and equal 
companionship with her husband, and places upon 
motherhood the crown of greatest glory. Wherever 
the sweet story of Bethlehem is told, childhood is 
made happy by offerings of love, and happy Christ- 
mas bells, and the bright home adornments and 
joyous home gatherings. Many of the branches of 
the tree of life hang over the family fireside, and 
drop their sweetest fruits within the circle of the 
Christian home. 

Slavery was almost universal throughout the na- 
tion when Jesus was laying the foundations of his 
kingdom. And it is doubtful if it ever existed in a 
more cruel and degrading form than in the Roman 



150 The Rod That Budded 



empire at that time. A discriminating French au- 
thor (Wallon) has said that "for public depravity 
to reach its lowest depths required a being with the 
attractions and possessions of a man, yet stripped 
by public opinion of all the moral obligations of a 
human being, all whose wildest excesses were law- 
ful, provided they were ordered by a master." Such 
was the condition of society produced by Roman 
slavery — the proportion of bondmen being so great 
that when the proposition was made in the Senate 
to require them to wear a distinguishing dress, ob- 
jection was made lest, finding themselves so greatly 
in the majority, they should rise in rebellion against 
their masters. The slavery of those days was hor- 
ribly cruel and degrading. The right of life and 
death was given to the master over the slave, and he 
was classified with animals. Plutarch says that 
Flaminius put a slave to death merely to afford 
amusement to a guest who had never seen a human 
being die. Pollio, a Stoic of Naples, is said by 
Seneca to have fed the flesh of slaves to the fishes 
in his pond, because he believed that it gave to the 
fish a more agreeable flavor. Old and infirm slaves 
were abandoned to die. The atrocities often com- 
mitted upon them are too dreadful to relate. 

Jesus uttered no counterblast against this "sum 
of all villainies," but he did lay down principles 
which operated from the beginning of his Church 
to alleviate the condition of the slave, and after- 
ward to secure his emancipation. He taught the 
brotherhood of man side by side with the Father- 



The Healing of the Nations 151 

hood of God when he bade his disciples pray, "Our 
Father who art in heaven." His followers went 
everywhere after his death scattering the same prin- 
ciples of equality and liberty. "In Christ there was 
neither bond nor free. The slave partook of the 
memorials of his dying Lord side by side with his 
master." A petition in an early liturgy made sup- 
plication for "them that suffer in bondage." In- 
scriptions on catacombs recognize both masters and 
slaves as the servants of Jesus Christ. And from 
the time of Constantine, laws were enacted looking 
toward the emancipation of those who were held in 
bondage. Thus the principles taught by Jesus 
spread like leaven throughout the world. 

There were other evils and vices which were eat- 
ing out the life of the old world like a deadly cancer, 
for the healing of which Jesus scattered leaves from 
the tree of life. Plato, who among philosophers 
came nearest to the ideals taught by our Lord for 
the renovating of society, speaking almost with de- 
spair of the passions and lusts which were sapping 
the vitality and energy of Greece, said there were 
only three forces that could counteract this deadly 
evil : piety, or love to a Divine Person ; the desire 
for honor or the respect of the good; and the love 
of moral beauty — not of the body but of the soul. 
This the ultimate hope of the Grecian philosopher 
had its realization in the advent of Jesus. Love for 
the Father, Son and Holy Ghost has beccme the 
principle which by "the expulsive power of a new 
affection" gives victory over the worst passions. 



152 The Rod That Budded 



The Gospel sets before those who accept it im- 
mortal honor and glory, and by the renewal of the 
Holy Ghost moral deformity gives place to spiritual 
beauty, as the inner man is renewed after the image 
of God in knowledge, righteousness and holiness. 

When the spirit of life departs out of a man, his 
once majestic form begins to fall into corruption. 
Beauty gives place to deformity, and we hasten to 
bury our dead out of our sight. Nothing can re- 
tard the process of decay, or restore the lost beauty, 
save a re-creation, and the breathing of a new life 
into the dead form by him who at first made man 
in his own image and breathed into his nostrils the 
breath of life. And nothing can arrest and turn 
back the process of decay in human society save the 
vitalizing of the individual souls of which it is com- 
posed, and transforming them into the life and like- 
ness of their Redeemer, in whom is no spot nor 
blemish. When his grace is shed forth so that he 
is as the dew unto Israel, he shall grow as the lily, 
and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches 
shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree 
— the beauty of usefulness or fruitfulness. Then 
shall "our sons be as plants grown up in their youth, 
and our daughters shall be as cornerstones, polished 
after the similitude of a palace. Happy is that peo- 
ple that is in such a case. Yea, happy is that people 
whose God is the Lord." 

Another fruit from the tree of life which has 
brought much healing and happiness has taken the 
form of Christian charity. It is true that much sup- 



The Healing of the Nations 153 

port was gratuitously given to the populace by Ro- 
man emperors before the imperial city felt the quick- 
ening pulse of Christianity. But the method of 
distribution and the prompting principles were such 
as to produce most wretched results. The Caesars 
were accustomed to distribute freely to the populace 
of Rome the spoils of conquest and the fruits of 
burdensome, oppressive taxes. But it was anything 
but an unselfish regard for the poor that prompted 
such distributions. The imperial government was 
largely dependent upon public favor, and this was 
often purchased at a price which exhausted the pub- 
lic treasuries and cultivated the spirit of pauperism 
among the people. In Cicero's time, it was esti- 
mated that about twelve per cent., and at an earlier 
date not less than thirty-three per cent., of the popu- 
lation was maintained out of the public treasury. 
It is said that Julius Caesar found 320,000 persons, 
or nearly seventy-five per cent, of the whole popula- 
tion, on the roll of public support. Under Augus- 
tus Caesar, 200,000 received "out-of-door relief." 
(Gesta Christi.) The result of such a system was 
to encourage idleness and pauperism, and con- 
tributed not a little to the degradation and destruc- 
tion of the empire. 

Jesus and his apostles, both by example and by 
precept, taught the dignity of labor and required 
habits of industry and self-reliance among their con- 
verts. The early Church in Jerusalem adopted a 
kind of Christian Communism, owing probably to 
the fact that many of the new converts were far 



154 The Rod That Budded 



from their homes, with little means for their sup- 
port. There was no law requiring members to sur- 
render their property to the welfare of the com- 
munity. Christian communism differs from modern 
communism. While the latter says, "What is thine 
is mine," early communism said, "What is mine is 
thine. 1 ' So long as all Christians were actuated by 
this principle, the system worked admirably, though 
there is no evidence that it was ever designed for 
universal adoption throughout the Church. The 
doctrine of the apostles for the able-bodied was, 
"That if any would not work, neither should he eat." 

Yet Jesus through his church made liberal pro- 
vision for the really destitute. Over the door of one 
of Dr. Bernardo's homes in London is this inscrip- 
tion, "No really destitute child ever refused admit- 
tance." And it is said that the invitation has been 
universally and literally fulfilled. So Jesus receives 
all who come to him, and so he has taught his fol- 
lowers to send none who are really destitute and 
unable to help themselves away empty-handed. 

"With Christianity," says Charles Loring Brace, 
"began the organized and individual charity of 
modern Europe, which for these eighteen centuries 
has wiped away so many tears, softened so much 
suffering, saved so many young lives from misery 
and sin, ministered at so many death-beds, made 
the solitary evening of life glad to so many who 
would have been born to sorrow and shame ; which 
in so many countries has cared for the sick, the 
blind, the deaf, the crippled, the outcast and 



The Healing of the Nations 155 

tempted; the young, the orphan, the foundling and 
the aged. Surely if anything is a fore-gleam of 
that kingdom of heaven which is yet to shine over 
the earth, it is the brotherhood of spirit shown in 
the charity of the modern world. This is most dis- 
tinctly a fruit of Christ's teachings" (Gesta Christi). 

When Nathanael said to Philip, "Can there any 
good thing come out of Nazareth?" Philip wisely 
replied, "Come and see." And this is the best an- 
swer to modern skepticism when it inquires con- 
cerning the possibilities for good in the religion of 
Jesus Christ. Not only should it come to him in 
whom dwells all fulness of blessing, but it should 
lift up the eyes and see what it has already wrought 
for struggling, suffering humanity. "Come and see 
a dying world revivified, a decrepit world rejuve- 
nated, an aged world rejuvenescent; come and see 
the darkness illuminated, the despair dispelled ; come 
and see tenderness brought into the cell of the im- 
prisoned felon, and liberty to the fettered slave; 
come and see the poor, and the ignorant, and the 
many, emancipated forever from the intolerable 
thraldom of the rich, the learned and the few ; come 
and see hospitals and orphanages rising in their per- 
manent mercy beside the crumbling ruins of colossal 
amphitheaters which once reeked with human blood ; 
come and see the dens of lust and tyranny trans- 
formed into sweet and happy homes, defiant athe- 
ists into believing Christians, rebels into children, 
and pagans into saints" (Dean Farrar). 

We do not mean that all misery has been banished 



156 The Rod That Budded 



from the earth, that all fountains of disease and 
death have been changed into health-producing 
springs. There are still many poisonous, bitter 
fountains which are sending forth their death-deal- 
ing streams into the abodes of men, and working 
deadly havoc wherever they flow. Human greed 
and selfishness continue to be a prolific source of op- 
pression, misery and wrong. The strife between 
capital and labor still goes on, and can be healed 
only by a thorough application of the Golden Rule, 
"Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, 
do ye even so to them." The wretchedness of the 
world will be renovated only in proportion as all 
men learn to live by the principle of the parable 
of the Good Samaritan — "Wherever we see need, 
there we should recognize a neighbor.' ' The saloon 
has fastened itself, like the roots of a deadly cancer, 
upon the head and members of the fairest nations 
upon the earth, not only sweeping its thousands year 
by year into drunkards' graves, but assuming to 
dictate the policy of chief magistrates, and legisla- 
tures. For every hundred thousand whom it sweeps 
into dishonored, hopeless graves every year, it 
seeks to make recruits from homes of all ranks and 
classes, counting no place too sacred for its unhal- 
lowed work. This destructive enemy is at every 
citizen's door, lurking like a beast of prey to devour 
the life of his sons and drag the honor of his daugh- 
ters into the mire. Is there no remedy for this 
mighty evil which casts its baleful shadow over all 
the land? The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the one 



The Healing of the Nations i 57 

sure and effective preventive against the drunkard's 
doom. In proportion as men are filled with the 
Spirit of life and love, will they have no desire to 
be drunk with that which maddens the brain, pol- 
lutes the imagination, destroys and perverts the will, 
and defaces the last remnants of the image of God 
from the soul. Jesus has saved multitudes from the 
curse of intemperance and he is able to save all who 
will come unto him. What the lands need also is 
to have the principles of his gracious word crystal- 
lized into wholesome laws, with men who fear God 
and hate covetousness to enforce them righteously 
and impartially — thus "making it as easy as possible 
to do right, and as difficult as possible to do wrong." 
Not until the saloon is banished from the earth will 
there come a fulfillment of the gracious prediction, 
"There shall be no more curse." 



CHAPTER XVI. 



PASSING FRUIT TO OTHERS. 

EVER since the fall it has been laid to the 
charge of womankind that she was the first 
in the transgression, and sorely has she suf- 
fered the consequences of her disobedience. But if 
woman was first to partake of the forbidden fruit 
and to pass it to others, she was also the first to par- 
take of the fruit of the cross after it had bloomed 
forth into the ever-living tree of life, and to pass 
its fruit on to others. It was to Mary Magdalene 
and the other women who came early to the sepul- 
chre to anoint the body of Jesus that he first mani- 
fested himself after he rose from the dead. They 
first partook of the joy of knowing that he was alive 
again and of hearing his gracious words. To them 
also was committed the joyous trust of carrying to 
others the glad tidings which should lift their hearts 
out of the depths of despair and put a new song in 
their mouths. And no sooner had a risen Lord 
given this command to the women to go and tell 
his disciples than with joy did they run to bring 
the disciples word. And woman has ever been fore- 
most among those who have hastened to tell the 
glad tidings of a new life to a dead, despairing 
world. 



Passing Fruit to Others 159 

And among the faithful followers of our Lord 
woman has held a high rank in all the ages. It was 
so during his personal ministry, and has been so in 
all succeeding ages. There is no record of a woman 
ever proving false to Jesus during his earthly life, 
and many were her tender ministries to him during 
his years of grief. Only two instances of the jour- 
ney from the judgment hall to Calvary have been 
recorded in the inspired narratives. One of these 
tells .of Simon the Cyrenian being compelled to bear 
the cross after him, the other of the weeping of the 
daughters of Jerusalem as they saw him led out to 
crucifixion. One tells how the strength of manhood 
was employed to relieve him of his heavy burden, 
the other of the sympathy of womanhood which 
must have been a refreshing draught to his wounded 
spirit. And be it remembered that while men heaped 
abuse upon him — one denying his name, another be- 
traying him, others falsely accusing, others spitting, 
or mocking, or scourging, or crowning him with 
thorns, or nailing him to the cross, there is not a 
single record of a word or deed of unkindness from 
womanhood. None of the women who followed 
him from Galilee showed any defection in hours of 
sorest trial. No one ever denied that she knew him. 
No one betrayed him into the hands of enemies. 
They were last at the cross and first at the tomb. 
For her unfaltering devotion she was repaid by hav- 
ing the first meetings with the risen Lord, and being 
first commissioned to tell the glad tidings to others. 

This suggests the method by which the Gospel of 



160 The Rod That Budded 



salvation was to be published throughout the world. 
We see illustrations of this method on the first day 
of our Lord's ministry on the banks of the Jordan 
after his return from the temptation. John the 
Baptist pointed John and Andrew to him with the 
words, "Behold the Lamb of God." After abiding 
with him through the day, Andrew vvent forth and 
found his brother Simon, and he brought him to 
Jesus. On the next day Jesus called Philip, and 
Philip went and found his neighbor Nathanael, and 
he brought him to Jesus. So it has been down to the 
present day, so it must be until the knowledge fills 
the earth. Those who have tasted of the joy of sal- 
vation go forth to make it known to others. 

Great dependence is placed in modern days upon 
the printed page as a means in the spread of the 
kingdom, and a mighty instrumentality a conse- 
crated press has been and is. Day and night presses 
are busy printing invitations to heaven's banquet, 
and many are the consecrated hands which pass this 
invitation to others. But during the first twenty 
years after the ascension of the Lord probably not 
a line of the New Testament had been written, yet 
those were years of wonderful spread of the Gospel. 
The reason was, all who heard the word realized 
their responsibility to communicate it to others. 
Those who had been made alive in Christ Jesus be- 
came living epistles, known and read of all men. 
When the professed followers of Jesus again realize 
their full responsibility as his witnesses his truth 
will spread rapidly to the ends of the earth. 



Passing Fruit to Others 161 



The responsibility which rests upon those who 
have heard the Gospel should bring both gladness 
and seriousness. No higher honor could have been 
conferred upon the human race than to be made co- 
workers with God in the redemption of the lost 
world. Angels would have rejoiced in the privilege 
of proclaiming the Gospel, and they would have 
hastened with alacrity to publish the glad tidings to 
earth's remotest bounds, but not to them has this 
distinguished honor been granted. When Corne- 
lius prayed for light, an angel was sent with an 
answer, but not to proclaim to him the way of life. 
His commission was to "send for a man, Simon, 
whose surname was Peter/' who should come and 
tell him words whereby he and his house should be 
saved. And we should rejoice that it is our privi- 
lege to share in that work which has been denied to 
angels. 

An eminent Scotch divine imagined this conver- 
sation to have taken place between Jesus and Ga- 
briel after the ascension of our Lord from Mount 
Olivet. 

"You must have suffered greatly for those people 
down there," he supposes the angel to have said to 
the Master. 

"Yes, Gabriel, a great deal more than any of my 
creatures can understand." 

"Do they all know about the great sacrifice you 
have made for them?" 

"No, only a very few of them know about it — a 
few only in Judea and Galilee." 



162 The Rod That Budded 



"What provision have you made for telling others 
the glad tidings ?" 

"I have asked those who do know about it to tell 
others whom they may meet, and these again to 
pass the news on to others, and those to still another 
circle of hearers, and so on until the end of time." 

"But what if they should forget ?" was the sup- 
posed solemn inquiry of the angelic questioner. 

"I have no other plan." 

With this privilege there comes also a solemn re- 
sponsibility. If Christ has "no other plan," then we 
may be obstructing the progress of his kingdom by 
retaining in our selfish or slothful grasp the mes- 
sage which the King designed should be passed on 
to others. We are not slow to communicate to our 
neighbors any joyous intelligence pertaining to tem- 
poral matters. Why do we not count it a much 
greater privilege to communicate to them the glad- 
est tidings human ears have ever heard ? That they 
might communicate this good tidings of great joy 
to the few shepherds of Judea, angels came from 
heaven and sang the natal song of the new-born Re- 
deemer. That song has lost none of its power to 
cheer and gladden desponding, despairing hearts. 
Why are we so slow to speak the message which is 
able to revive and gladden other souls? 

An old historic church building in an eastern city 
was being removed from one location to another. 
It being one of the early landmarks, it was decided 
to rebuild it exactly as it had stood on its former 
site. As it was being razed each stone and timber 



Passing Fruit to Others 163 

was numbered that it might occupy its proper place 
in the reconstructed edifice. When the building 
was almost completed, one of the marked stones was 
missing. It was sought after far and near, but 
could not be found. The contractor proposed to 
provide a new one to take its place, but the building 
committee would not consent. The work was de- 
layed for weeks, while the search for the missing 
stone was renewed. At last the contractor spied it 
one day by the roadside, along which the materials 
had been transported from one site to the other, 
where it had fallen from the wagon which conveyed 
it and others. It was speedily and joyfully recov- 
ered and the work of reconstruction was soon 
brought to an end. For every one who hears the 
gospel message there is a niche to fill in the great 
spiritual temple of which the Lord Jesus is the cor- 
ner-stone. If that place be not filled the work of 
the erection of that temple must be so far retarded. 
It is ours to find out what place the Master-builder 
meant us to occupy, and then to gladly yield our- 
selves to the fulfillment of his gracious purpose. 

While the Lord has placed upon those who par- 
take of his salvation the responsibility of communi- 
cating the Gospel to others, he has not left them to 
do this in their own unaided strength and wisdom. 
Part t of his plan was to send his Holy Spirit into 
their hearts that they might be swept and swayed 
by the same spirit of compassion which led him to 
lay down his life as a ransom for the perishing. It 



1 64 The Rod That Budded 



seems like a hopeless undertaking to commit to a 
few humble fishermen the task of rejuvenating an 
old and dying world, and then to mount on chariots 
of cloud to his throne in heaven, leaving his handful 
of followers as sheep among wolves, as harmless 
doves among birds and beasts of prey. And hope- 
less the issue must have been, had it not been for the 
added promise, "Lo, I am with you all the days unto 
the end of the world." He commanded them to tarry 
in Jerusalem until they should be endued with power 
from on high. And as they waited and prayed with 
one mind and heart, suddenly there came a sound as 
of a rushing mighty wind, filling all the place where 
they were assembled. There came also to every one 
a token of the Divine Presence in the form of a 
cloven tongue of fire, the visible emblem of the 
Holy Spirit who was to anoint their tongues, and 
to enable them to deliver the message which he had 
given them with divine effect and power. This 
power was sent not in the form of swords of flame, 
for Jesus came not to destroy but to save. It came 
in the form of fiery tongues, emblems that it was 
through human speech, sanctified and energized by 
the Spirit of divine grace that the Gospel was to 
spread from man to man, and from clime to clime. 

Nor is it only by spoken messages of the lips that 
we are to communicate the fruit of the tree of life 
from one to another. Christ intends that his dis- 
ciples upon earth should be living epistles, known 
and read of all men. In the opening books of the 
New Testament we have the Gospel according to 



Passing Fruit to Others 165 

Matthew, according to Mark, Luke and John, but 
the world knows but little of these. The Gospel 
which it reads is the Gospel according to the lives 
of the professed followers of him whom they an- 
nounce as the world's Redeemer. Even the Holy 
Spirit seems not to go to those who know not the 
Christ except as he sends human messengers to 
bear the knowledge of his name. "The world seeth 
me not," said the Saviour to his disciples, "but ye see 
me." During one-half of every diurnal rotation of 
the earth upon its axis, those who dwell upon our 
hemisphere see not the light of the sun, but the moon 
and stars see it, and catching its glorious refulgence 
reflect its rays upon the earth, relieving the gloom 
of the darkness, and furnishing signs for the guid- 
ance of travelers or mariners upon the great deep. 
So the world sees not the Sun of Righteousness, 
who has ascended to his glory, but his disciples see 
him, and it is their duty and privilege to catch the 
reflection of his glory and communicate it to those 
who now walk in darkness. 

It is for this purpose that Paul sent this message 
to the slaves in Crete, through Titus, "Adorn the 
doctrine of God our Saviour in all things." Those 
to whom this message was sent occupied the lowest 
round in the social scale. They could not expect 
their masters and mistresses to give them a hearing 
if they should pose as commissioned ambassadors 
from heaven. But in their daily service they could 
so commend the religion of Jesus Christ, illustrat- 
ing his patience, tenderness, faithfulness and holi- 



1 66 The Rod That Budded 



ness, that those who came in contact with them 
would know that they had been with Jesus and had 
learned of him. 

"For when one holds communion with the skies, 
And fills his urn where those pure waters rise, 
Then once more mingles with us meaner things, 
'Tis e'en as if an angel shook his wings; 
Immortal fragrance fills the circle wide, 
That tells us where his fragrance is supplied." 

The early history of the Church is illumined with 
many a bright page, telling how an humble maid- 
servant became the means of winning her noble or 
wealthy mistress to faith in Jesus, and how many 
a faithful slave won his master to a similar life. 
Sometimes both master and slave, mistress and 
maid, yielded up their lives at the same stake in 
testimony to the truth by which and for which they 
lived and labored. Slaves were not only an orna- 
ment to the Gospel by their lives; they adorned it 
also by their deaths. Xot a few of them won the 
martyr's crown. Eusebius has preserved a letter 
from the churches of Lyons and Vienna to the 
churches of Asia Minor and Phrygia in which he 
tells the tender story of the martyrdom of the slave 
Blandina with her mistress during the terrible per- 
secutions in Gaul by Marcus Aurelius. Origen in- 
timates also that it was no uncommon thing for 
families to be converted from heathenism to Chris- 
tianity through the instrumentality of slaves. If 
they in such lowly positions, with such limited op- 



Passing Fruit to Others 167 

portunities, could become great ornaments to the 
truth of the living God, what could we not accom- 
plish if we were filled with love for the Master and 
the souls for whom he died? 

It is said that Celia Thaxter, through her pas- 
sionate love for flowers, transformed a rocky islet, 
which she chose as her summer home, into a garden 
of delight. And to many a garden spot of earth may 
we now point — spots which were once a moral 
desert, but which have been transformed into beauty 
and loveliness because in the hearts of some of 
Christ's lowly ones there burned a passionate love 
for souls, which led them to sow bountifully the 
good seed of the everlasting word, which sprang up 
and yielded fruit abundantly to the glory of the Re- 
deemer's name. 

One has said that if he could find the grave of 
Lazarus of Bethany, he would delight to erect over 
it a monument bearing as an inscription this testi- 
mony from John's Gospel, "By reason of him many 
of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus. " 
There can be no nobler testimony paid to any one 
than this — that because of him many went away 
and believed in Jesus. We are not told of any great 
service which Lazarus rendered. It was because of 
what he was, and what Jesus did for him, that he had 
such an influence for good. It will be said that his 
experience was unique — that if we could die and be 
raised again to life many would believe on Jesus be- 
cause of us; but since this cannot be our influence 
cannot be such as his. But this is just what we may 



1 68 The Rod That Budded 



do, and what we must do, if we are to win other 
souls to Jesus. We must die and live again. We 
must die to the old life of sin and selfishness. Self 
must be crucified and Christ must be enthroned in 
the heart. When such a crucifixion and such a 
resurrection takes place in us, many will go away 
and believe on Jesus because of us. 

Another thing that can be said of Lazarus was 
that he was the friend of Jesus. There are few 
more tender words in Scripture than these, "Our 
friend Lazarus sleepeth." You can have no more 
blessed privilege than to have Jesus call you his 
friend. And Lazarus was the friend of Jesus. So 
must we be if we would win others to him. Solo- 
mon wrote, "He that would have friends must show 
himself friendly." Or as Emerson rendered it, "If 
you would have a friend be one." And if we would 
lead others to become the friends of Jesus, and thus 
make them partakers of the fruits of the tree of life, 
we must be his true, faithful, constant unfaltering 
friends. We must be able to say to him as Ittai 
said to David, "As the Lord liveth, and as my lord 
the king liveth, surely in what place my lord the 
king shall be, whether in death or life, even there 
also will thy servant be." 

Visitors to the Holy Sepulchre at the time of the 
Greek Easter light their candles at the burning torch 
which is thrust through an opening in the wall of 
the sepulchre. Then those who first receive the 
light pass it on to others, until the vast assembly 
seems like a forest of burning tapers. These candles 
are then extinguished and carefully carried to homes 



Passing Fruit to Others 169 



in distant parts of the world, to be lit again only 
on special occasions, such as at the baptism or death 
of a child, for it is their hope that when the mists of 
death are gathering over the vision this candle, 
lighted again, may be held before their eyes to il- 
lumine the dark valley of the shadow, and then 
again placed at their head and feet when they are 
laid in their coffin, to burn themselves down to the 
very sockets. But the light once enkindled in the 
soul by the Holy Spirit never goes out, and it is 
our business to see that it always burns brightly, 
that it is not hidden by the bushel of worldly busi- 
ness, nor concealed by the bed of slothful ease, but 
kept upon the candlestick, burning clear and bright. 
A little girl once misunderstood the word Israelites 
to be "his real lights/' Not a great mistake con- 
cerning those who are Israelites indeed. He who 
redeemed us by his blood says to us, "Ye are the 
light of the world;" "Let your light so shine before 
men that they may glorify your Father who is in 
heaven." Those who thus shine, turning many by 
their example and efforts to righteousness, shall 
shine as the brightness of the firmament forever and 
ever. 

Mr. Spurgeon once said that according to Huber, 
the great naturalist, if a single wasp discovers a de- 
posit of honey or other food, he will fly to his nest, 
and impart the good news to his companions, who 
will sally forth in great numbers to partake of the 
fare which has been discovered for them. And shall 
we who have found honey in the Rock, Christ Jesus, 
says Mr. Spurgeon, be less considerate of our fel- 



170 The Rod That Budded 



lows than wasps are of their fellow insects ? Ought 
we not rather, like the Samaritan woman, hasten to 
tell the good news ? Common humanity should pre- 
vent one of us from concealing the great discovery 
which grace has enabled us to make. 

In the days of the Spanish Inquisition, when to 
be found distributing, or even possessing, copies of 
the Word of life meant subjection to the rack, the 
dungeon and the stake, a noble Castilian met a 
humble muleteer who gave him a Spanish New Tes- 
tament, and expounded to him the messages which 
had brought peace and joy to his own soul. The 
nobleman recognized the beauty and power of the 
truths that had been explained, but he trembled for 
him who at the risk of liberty and life had dared to 
speak to him these words of life. 

"Do you realize," he said in the silence of the 
midnight hour, "the danger to which you are ex- 
posing yourself by carrying with you these copies 
of the Testament and giving and explaining them 
to others ?" 

"Yes," replied the humble but fearless muleteer, 
"I have fully counted the cost." 

"You are exposing yourself to the rage of men 
who are strangers to mercy, who if they lay hands 
upon you will hurry you to torture and the flame, 
and all for what?" 

"For the joy of bringing water to the thirsty, 
bread to the famishing, rest to the weary, life to 
the perishing. Yes, Signor, I have counted the 
cost, and it is none too great to pay for the prize." 



CHAPTER XVII. 



THE PLANTING 0£ THE LORD 



"That they might be called Trees of Righteousness, The 
Planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified." — Isaiah 
61 : 3. 



HE business of the Christian is to reproduce 



the life of Christ. Only he is a Christian 



whose life reflects the Christ life. Such a 
life is not a mere imitation of the perfect life, as 
indeed life is never a mere imitation. Life is a 
growth, a development from the living germ, and 
the Christ life is no exception to the rule. When 
Jesus says, "Consider the lilies, how they grow/' he 
reminds us that our growth must be like that of the 
lily. Its beauty is not put on by the painter's brush 
from without ; it is developed from the living, grow- 
ing principle within. 

This accounts for the fact that the same figures 
are used to represent both Christ and his people. If 
he is the tree of life, they are "Trees of Righteous- 
ness, the Planting of the Lord." He is the Vine, 
they are the branches. He is the Corner Stone, they 
are the superstructure. He is the Head, they are 
the members of the body. There is a vital oneness 
between Christ and his disciples. What he is in per- 




172 The Rod That Budded 



fection, they are in progression. The life that is in 
him flows also through their beings, molding their 
character, directing their course, and shaping their 
destiny. 

We have considered the tree of life, its nature, its 
position, its shadow, its fruit. Let us consider also 
the trees of righteousness, those w T hom the Spirit 
of life calls, "The Planting of the Lord." 

Where are they planted? 

Perhaps w T e may find the answer to the question in 
this verse from an old psalm, "Those that be planted 
in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts 
of our God/' Though the earth was given over to 
thorns and briers, God has planted for himself a 
garden in w T hich he causes his precious plants to 
grow. It is not mere fancy that leads us to speak 
of the Church as a garden. Solomon seems to have 
thought of it as such a favored spot when he wrote, 
"A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse." He 
compares the Church to one of those lovely gardens 
which he planted for his own delight, and which 
was watered from the "spring shut up, the fountain 
sealed," which is to this day the chief source of 
supply for the extensive pools which bear his name. 
He grows rapturous as he goes on to describe the 
loveliness and fruitfulness of this garden, "Thy 
plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleas- 
ant fruit; camphire, with spikenard, spikenard and 
saffron, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and 
aloes, with all the sweet spices; a fountain of gar- 
dens, a well of living waters, and streams from Leb- 



The Planting of the Lord 173 

anon" (Song of Songs 4: 12-15). When mankind 
had corrupted its way before God, he chose himself 
a people and set them in a land where under the 
most favorable conditions and culture they might 
develop and manifest a new life, the outgrowth of 
the implanting of heavenly principles. His purpose 
was not merely to develop that which was best and 
truest in man's nature, for it had been demonstrated 
that the tendency of all that was merely human was 
continually and only downward. He therefore im- 
planted in the hearts of his chosen witnesses the 
germs of a new life and surrounded these heavenly 
plants with a hedge of his own protection, and the 
chosen nation prospered just in proportion as these 
heavenly germs were developed and manifested. 

The Church is no longer restricted to a particular 
land, secluded from the rest of the world by seas 
and mountains and deserts, yet the line of separation 
between Church and world is meant to be no less dis- 
tinct than in the days of Israel's strictest seclusion. 
The Church is not a select club, composed of those 
whose lives present the fairest exterior. In its genu- 
ine, essential membership it consists of those in 
whose hearts the germs of a new life have been 
planted and who are at the same time by living 
bonds engrafted into Jesus Christ as members of his 
body. Around those who are thus united to him he 
throws the protection of his special providence. He 
has also enclosed them in the garden of his Church 
by the pale of ordinances and laws. When the Lord 
plants one of the trees of righteousness he does not 



174 The Rod That Budded 



set it on the hard, beaten wayside, where the foot of 
beasts may crush it, or the passer-by recklessly de- 
spoil it of leaf, or fruit, or flower. He plants it in 
his garden, where it will enjoy special protecting 
care and culture. Those whom he is gathering to 
himself out of the world need the advantages af- 
forded by the Church which he has established upon 
the earth. They need the companionship of fellow 
Christians. They need the blessings which come 
through the appointed ordinances. They need the 
watchful care of faithful gardeners. As the garden 
is a more secure place for the flower than the open 
highway, so is the Church a safer place for the re- 
deemed soul than unprotected exposure to the temp- 
tations and evils of the world. 

The blessed man is compared to a tree planted by 
the rivers of water, which yieldeth its fruit in its 
season, and its leaf never fadeth. But it is through 
the appointed ordinances of the Church that the 
streams of grace flow to refresh and purify and 
strengthen the souls of men. The trees of right- 
eousness must therefore be planted where these 
streams flow if they are to grow and yield their ap- 
pointed fruit and foliage. God has ordained many 
means of grace and committed these to the care and 
guardianship of his ministering servants in the 
Church. If men are to avail themselves of the bene- 
fits afforded by these means of grace, they must be 
planted near the channels through which God 
causes these streams to flow. The city of Damas- 
cus, and the gardens or orchards which surround 



The Planting of the Lord 175 



it, are abundantly watered by the seven streams into 
which the ancient Abana divides after it flows 
through the narrow gorge of the mountains. It is 
these streams and the abundance of their supply that 
have made Damascus an oasis in the desert during 
the forty centuries of its existence. 

As soon expect a tree to flourish if planted in the 
desert sands, far away from any refreshing stream, 
as to expect a soul to flourish if planted far away 
from those channels by which God communicates 
new measures of life and strength to the fainting 
soul. Thus for their own sakes God plants his ran- 
somed in the courts of his own house, near to the 
ordinances through which he bestows his divine 
favor and blessing. For this reason we can sing, 
"Blessed are they that dwell in thy house. They 
will be ever praising thee. Blessed is the man whose 
strength is in thee ; in whose heart are the highways 
to Zion. Passing through the valley of weeping 
they make it a place of springs ; yea, the early rain 
covereth it with blessings. They go from strength 
to strength, every one of them appearing before God 
in Zion." 

For his own glory and the good of their fellow 
men also God plants his chosen ones within the pale 
of his Church. Christ's disciples are the light of the 
world. His message to them is, "Let your light so 
shine before men, that others seeing your good 
works may glorify your Father who is in heaven." 
They are warned not to hide their candle under the 
bed of slothful indifference, or under the bushel 



176 The Rod That Budded 



of worldly greed, but to place it upon the candle- 
stick that it may give light to all who are in the 
house. But what is the candlestick but the Church 
of the living God? It is his own chosen emblem of 
its principal office — to hold forth the lamp of life be- 
fore a wandering and perishing world. The golden 
candlesticks which John saw on Patmos were the 
representatives of the seven churches of Asia, and 
the candlestick still serves as a fit emblem of the 
purpose which the Church was appointed to serve. 
In order that his chosen ones may give light to those 
who are walking in darkness, God sets their light 
on the candlestick by planting them in the heart of 
his Church. 

Are we to infer that there can be no salvation out- 
side of the visible Church ? that God plants all whom 
he chooses and regenerates within the pale of its 
law r s and ordinances? 

What he in his sovereign grace may do in ex- 
ceptional cases is not now a subject of inquiry. We 
have no warrant to take the exceptions as our rule 
in life. It is for us to inquire what is his ordinary 
method, and then seek to avail ourselves of the ad- 
vantages which it affords. 

The man of business does not risk his capital by 
investing it in what may by some caprice of fortune, 
some" unexpected, unusual turn in the course of af- 
fairs, yield him a safe and abundant return; he 
places it where he has every reasonable assurance 
that it will be secure, guarding it against every pos- 
sible hazard, securing it by every safeguard the laws 



The Planting of the Lord 177 

of society afford. The farmer does not take any 
risks that can be avoided in the cultivation of his 
fields. He plows and sows in the proper seasons. 
He gives the growing crops needed cultivation. He 
protects them by fences against the ravages of beasts. 
He does his work by the most approved methods, 
taking no chances with the exceptional or unusual. 
Every wise man cares in like manner for his bodily 
health. He does not play fast and loose with the 
laws of his physical constitution, but lives in the 
manner most likely to result in long life and bodily 
comfort. And why should any wish to take risks 
where the safety of the immortal soul is at stake? 
Is it not the part of wisdom to avail ourselves of 
every possible means to secure the life and health of 
the soul, instead of inquiring, "How little can I do 
and yet be saved ?" 

We should also carefully consider what is im- 
plied in the word "salvation." Is the highest hope 
which the Gospel holds out merely a deliverance 
from dreaded wrath ? That itself is an unspeakable 
blessing for which the redeemed will forever praise 
him who ransomed them from a deserved hell by 
his own blood. But this is not salvation as God 
designed it and as he freely offers it in his Gospel. 
David had a higher conception of redemption when 
he declared that those who are planted in God's 
house shall flourish in his courts. That was not 
Paul's idea of redemption when he prayed for the 
Philippians that their love might "increase more 
and more in knowledge and in all judgment, that 



178 The Rod That Budded 



they might approve things that are excellent, and 
that they might be filled with the fruits of right- 
eousness by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise 
of God." This was not God's idea of redemption 
when he provided his redeemed with such abundant 
channels of refreshment that they might yield 
abundant fruit to the glory of his name. It is not 
bare existence, joyless, fruitless, that he offers to 
those who hear his word. He designs that their 
leaf shall be evergreen, and their fruit shall never 
fail. Those who draw their refreshment only from 
this world shall be as a heath in the desert. They 
must take up the lament even before they have 
reached the noontide of life, 

"My days are in the yellow leaf, 

The flower and fruits of love are gone, 
The worm, the canker, and the grief 
Are mine alone." 

But those who are planted by the rivers of water 
shall bring forth their fruit in season and their leaf 
shall never wither. Mere deliverance from wrath 
was not the Saviours complete idea of redemption, 
for he said to his disciples, "Herein is my Father 
glorified, that ye bear much fruit." If our ideas of 
salvation are to tally with God's ideas and purposes, 
we must avail ourselves of the privileges which he 
has placed within his Church. Only when our souls 
are watered by the streams of grace can we expect 
them to be flourishing and fruitful. 

But not all who are admitted to membership in 



The Planting of the Lord 179 

the visible Church avail themselves of these privi- 
leges. Only those who are planted by God's own 
hand draw from these streams that nourishment and 
moisture which is essential to life and growth. 
' 'Every plant that my Father hath not planted shall 
be plucked up." Many are in the Church through 
the personal persuasion of friends, not through the 
deeper operations of the divine Spirit. Many are 
there simply because the surface of their emotional 
natures has been stirred, not because there was a 
deep, abiding sense of dependence upon the Prince 
of life. To the women of Jerusalem Jesus said, 
"Weep not for me, but weep for yourselves." Emo- 
tional feelings which do not reach and awaken the 
conscience only tend to leave the heart more hard- 
ened and hopeless than before. 

Human instrumentalities must be employed for 
gathering souls into the heavenly kingdom. Hu- 
man lips alone can proclaim the word which brings 
salvation, but only the divine Spirit of life can 
make that word effectual. Of the early Church it 
is written, "The Lord added to the Church daily 
those that were being saved." Paul plants, Apollos 
waters, God gives the increase. The net increase of 
the Church year by year is not the number of names 
added to the roll minus those which have been erased 
on account of deaths or removals, but those who 
have been truly added by the power of divine grace. 
These are never removed, for neither death, nor life, 
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor 
height, nor depth, nor any other creature, can sepa- 



180 The Rod That Budded 



rate from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus 
our Lord. 

And let us also remember to whom those who are 
truly the Lord's planting are added. Not merely to 
the Church, but to him who is its Head and Life. 
Twice at least in the story of the early Church is 
the true method indicated. After the judgment of 
God had fallen upon Ananias and Sapphira for their 
hypocrisy, it is said that "of the rest" — of those who 
were void of the grace of God — "durst no man join 
himself unto them; . . . but believers were the 
more added to the Lord." Again, speaking of the 
gracious ministry of Barnabas in Antioch, it is said 
that "he was a good man, and full of the Holy 
Ghost and of faith, and much people was added unto 
the Lord.' 1 Only these are genuine additions to the 
Church. They are not merely bound to it by the 
cords of an outward profession. They are ingrafted 
by the living Spirit, into him who is the Head by a 
union which can never be broken. 

The difference between a mere external attach- 
ment to the Church and this vital union to Christ 
its Head is well illustrated by the story of the two 
Moabitish women, Orpah and Ruth, and their at- 
tachment to their mother-in-law. Each had a meas- 
ure of natural affection for her, awakened through 
their intimate association and the close relationships 
they had sustained. But when the time came that 
tested these bonds of attachment, Orpah kissed her 
mother-in-law and went back to her people and to 
her gods. But when Naomi urged Ruth to follow 



The Planting of the Lord 1 8 1 



her example, she replied, "Entreat me not to leave 
thee, or to return from following after thee ; whither 
thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will 
lodge ; thy people shall be my people, and thy God 
my God." Orpah's attachment was merely per- 
sonal, consisting in an evanescent regard for her 
mother-in-law. Ruth's attachment was much deeper 
than that. Her faith laid hold upon the God of Is- 
rael and upon the heritage of promises which he had 
given his people. Therefore it was that no persua- 
sions, no fears of hardships or privations could turn 
her back from the choice she had made. Because 
she could say, "Thy God shall be my God/' she 
could readily add, "The Lord do so to me and more 
also if aught but death part thee and me." 

The additions which are made to the Church by 
the Spirit of life ingrafting souls in a vital union to 
Jesus Christ are the true net increase of the Church 
from year to year, and these are the additions that 
hold. Members so added may remove from one part 
of the world to another, but they are never separated 
from him who loved them and redeemed them by his 
blood. Their names may be erased from the earthly 
church-roll when they are translated to the upper 
kingdom, but this does not sever them from Christ 
nor from the family of God. For "neither death nor 
life, nor principalities nor powers, nor things pres- 
ent nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor 
any other creature shall be able to separate them 
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our 
Lord." Death separates friend from friend. It 



1 82 The Rod That Budded 



separates the immortal spirit from its clay tenement. 
But it cannot separate either body or soul from the 
love of Christ. "At death the souls of believers are 
made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass 
into glory, their bodies being still united to Christ 
do rest in their graves until the resurrection." Then 
when the trumpet shall sound, the Spirit of him who 
raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken 
their mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in 
them, when the body shall be reunited to its kindred 
spirit, both being fashioned after the perfect likeness 
of Christ, and so shall they be forever with the 
Lord. 

It is a sad thing to be fruitless branches in the 
visible body of Christ. The only direct miracle of 
judgment wrought by him on earth was the wither- 
ing of the fig tree which made great professions, 
putting forth leaves prematurely, yet yielding no 
fruit to satisfy the hunger of its Creator. He hun- 
gers for fruit from our lives, and sad will it be for 
us if he be left unsatisfied. The curse which fell 
upon the fruitless fig tree was, "No man eat fruit of 
thee hereafter forever" — the forfeiture of the power 
to yield fruits. And one of the saddest conse- 
quences of fruitless lives is the loss of the power 
to yield the fruits of righteousness. 

It is a general law among the members of our 
bodies and the faculties of the mind that if they fail 
to meet the end of their creation, they must lose 
their power to accomplish that for which they were 
created. The arm that is little used grows frail and 



i 



The Planting of the Lord 183 

slender, while that of the smith which is vigor- 
ously and regularly employed grows stronger and 
stronger. The faculty of the mind that is allowed 
to lie dormant loses its power to accomplish that for 
which it was specially capable. The talent was 
taken from the man who laid it away in a napkin 
and given to him whose five talents gained five 
other talents. The barren fig tree was to be cut 
down as a cumberer of the ground. 

Many reminders are given in Holy Writ of the 
certain doom of fruitlessness. The fruitless life is 
compared to the chaff of the threshing floor, which 
is often burned as soon as it is winnowed from the 
grain, because it is not only useless, but often posi- 
tively pernicious, containing seeds of noxious weeds 
which would soon pollute the adjoining fields if not 
destroyed. In the First Psalm the godless life is com- 
pared to the chaff, and the picture is the more im- 
pressive, because in previous verses the godly life is 
compared to a tree planted beside the rivers of 
waters, whose leaf never withers and which never 
fails to yield fruit in season. The prevailing 
thought in the Scriptures is that trees that do not 
yield their proper fruit are doomed to destruction. 
The Arabs of Palestine still have the proverb, 
"Many trees are planted, but only those are pre- 
served which bear fruit." 

The essential condition of fruit bearing is union 
with him in whom dwells all the fulness of life and 
blessing. "Abide in me and I in you. As the 
branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide 



1 84 The Rod That Budded 



in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in me." 
The trouble with many who profess to belong to 
Christ is that their roots still remain in the world, 
and only the branches of a profession hang over the 
wall of the Church. As there is no heavenly life in 
the roots, there can be no fruit on the vine. "Where 
there is a dearth of life underground — in the roots, 
there is likely to be death among the branches above 
ground." 

Many seem to think that their fruitfulness de- 
pends upon their position in life. They imagine that 
the more exalted the place they occupy, the more 
fruitful their lives will be, forgetting that the valleys 
are always more productive than the hillside or the 
high table-land. The truth is that fruitfulness does 
not depend upon our position among men, but on 
our relation to Jesus Christ. "Without me," he 
says, "ye can do nothing." Severed from him, our 
lives must be as fruitless as the severed branch of 
the tree which lies dried and withered at its roots. 
But united to him, with the strong, fresh currents 
of his life coursing through our lives, they cannot 
be fruitless. "Be ye steadfast, unmovable, always 
abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as 
ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



THE TREE IN THE PARADISE OF GOD 



"To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of 
life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God." — Revela- 
tion 2 : 7. 



HAT is a marvelous series of promises which 



the Lord of glory attaches to the letters ad- 



dressed to the seven churches of Asia. They 
begin with the tree of life and end with the throne of 
God. The first leads us back to man at his creation, 
and introduces us again to the blessedness of com- 
munion symbolized by the tree which grew in the 
midst of the garden. The last leads us up to the 
throne of glory and power, and invites us to sit with 
him who has triumphed over sin and death upon 
that throne. This is one of the many reminders that 
man in his redeemed estate will occupy a higher 
place than that in which he was placed at creation. 
He was made a little lower than the angels. By re- 
demption he is raised higher than the angels, nearer 
to the throne, by virtue of the intimate and indis- 
soluble union between the redeemed and the Re- 
deemer and the inseparable oneness of the Father 
and the Son. 

We have said that the series of promises given 




1 86 The Rod That Budded 



through John on Patmos begins where man began 
at creation. Only in a partial sense is that true. 
The same figure is employed to set forth his new 
blessedness which we find in the garden at man's 
creation. The tree which grew in the midst of 
Eden, although a tree of life, was still in an earthly 
paradise. Its occupants were yet to be tested, and 
upon that trial hung the most momentous issues. 
The tempter was not prohibited from the garden, 
and the newly created beings must withstand the 
force of his wily, insidious attacks. But in the para- 
dise of God no such tests of steadfastness shall ever 
be made. Jesus Christ has forever sealed the cove- 
nant by his blood. The conditions have all been 
satisfied and the heritage is sure. Nothing shall 
ever hurt, or annoy, or destroy, in God's holy 
mountain. 

The tree of life in the garden stood pre-eminently 
for communion with God. It was a symbol of his 
presence, and a reminder of the blessed privilege of 
communing with him. For this privilege the tree 
of life in the paradise above pre-eminently stands. 
Every glimpse of the heaven-life indicates that com- 
munion with the Lord who bought us will be the 
chief delight of the redeemed. The Lamb leads 
them to living fountains of water, and he himself 
is the ever-flowing fountain. It is written of those 
who are clothed in spotless robes, 'These are they 
who follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth." 
And who can measure the fulness of blessing and 
glory implied in this promise? For who can fore- 



The Tree in the Paradise of God 187 



cast the riches of glory into which the Lamb himself 
shall enter? And his meaning seems to be that 
whatever glory he shall receive that will he share 
with his ransomed ones. What but this can be the 
meaning of his commendation of the faithful ser- 
vant, "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord?" What- 
ever joy he shall experience he will share with those 
who have been steadfast in their adherence to him 
in the present life. 

With such an assurance in mind, John could not 
have regretted the choice which he made when he 
first saw Jesus on the banks of the Jordan and began 
to follow him. He had experienced many hardships 
and self-denials for the sake of Jesus since that day. 
He was at this very time an exile on a lonely island. 
But he had the witness in himself that he was one of 
Christ's redeemed ones, and that he would share 
with him his eternal glory. In view of that "eternal 
weight of glory" what were the sixty years of ser- 
vice since he had met Jesus on the banks of the 
Jordan, and had been introduced to him as "the 
Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the 
world" ? What were the exile and loneliness he was 
enduring on Patmos compared with the unending 
companionship of eternal ages to which he looked 
forward? What were the disappointments and 
hardships endured in the service of Christ compared 
with the glory that should follow? 

One of the pictures given of the tree of life in the 
Paradise of God shows its perfect accessibility. It 
is no longer guarded by the flaming sword. Not 



1 88 The Rod That Budded 



even cherubim stand guard over it to announce by 
their presence that the time to enter into the full 
enjoyment of its fruitage has not yet come. In the 
last chapter of the Book we see the tree of life grow- 
ing in the midst of the street, and on either side of 
the river. No stronger picture could be drawn of 
the accessibility of this tree which was once so care- 
fully guarded. At all times the inhabitants of the 
New T Jerusalem may approach and partake freely 
of its fruit. 

How has this gracious change been brought 
about? How comes it that the tree once so care- 
fully guarded is now within easy reach of all? 
What has produced this wondrous change? We 
must look to Calvary for the answer. He who is 
the Way, the Truth and the Life hung upon the 
accursed tree, bearing the sins of his ransomed ones 
in his own body, thus setting open the way to the 
source of life from which sin excluded them. The 
cross was planted as a dry tree, without leaf or 
fruit, but it has developed into the tree of life, and 
all who will may come and partake of its fruit. 
The fiery sword which guarded the first tree of life 
consumed the sacrifices which were laid upon patri- 
archal and Jewish altars, and still it continued to 
burn. It was bathed in the soul of our passover 
Lamb which was nailed to the cross, and was forever 
quenched. When from the lips of the Redeemer 
went forth the triumphal shout, "It is finished," the 
way to the tree of life was set open for all who 
would approach by way of the cross. 



The Tree in the Paradise of God 189 



Only they shall be admitted to the tree in the para- 
dise of God whose sins have been washed away in 
the blood that was shed on Calvary's tree. John on 
Patmos saw a vision of an approaching storm and a 
great multitude who vainly sought shelter from its 
approach. "And the kings of the earth, and the 
great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, 
and the mighty men, and every bond man, and every 
free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks 
of the mountains, and said to the mountains and 
rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him 
that sitteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of 
the Lamb; for the great day of his wrath is come 
and who shall be able to stand?" In the following 
chapter the answer to this all-important question is 
given : "After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude 
which no man could number, of all nations, and 
kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before 
the throne and before the Lamb" — these stood — 
"clothed in white robes, and palms in their hands." 
And when the question was raised, "Who are these, 
and whence came they?" the answer came back from 
heaven, "These are they which came out of great 
tribulation, and have washed their robes and made 
them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore 
are they before the throne of God and serve him day 
and night in his temple." Only the blood-washed 
shall be able to stand in his presence. 

Another description is given of those who shall 
eat of the tree of life in the paradise of God. This 
privilege shall be given only to those whose names 



190 The Rod That Budded 

are "written in the Lamb's book of life." What 
would we not give for one hour's study of that 
book of life in which are written the names of the 
redeemed? But why vainly wish for that which is 
not within our reach, when there lies spread open 
before us the pages of another book from which we 
may know certainly whether we shall enjoy these 
blessed privileges or not? In the Bible we have 
written, not a register of the names of the redeemed, 
but a faithful description of their natures, and what 
is "name" in the Holy Scriptures but "nature"? 
And the Word of God gives a faithful picture of the 
characters which shall be permitted to enjoy the 
blessedness of the paradise above. 

None can enter the heavenly gates save those who 
bear the family likeness. After the beloved disciple 
had seen the coming storm and had inquired, "Who 
shall be able to stand?" he saw one hundred and 
forty-four thousand of the tribes of Israel, all of 
whom were sealed with the Father's mark in their 
foreheads. Later in his visions he saw the one hun- 
dred and forty-four thousand standing with the 
Lamb on Mt. Zion, having the Father's mark in 
their foreheads (Rev. 14: 1-3). It is of these that 
he says, "These are they which follow the Lamb 
whithersoever he goeth." But who are the sealed 
ones, and with what likeness are they sealed? An- 
other apostle exhorts us not to grieve the Spirit of 
God, by whom we are "sealed unto the day of re- 
demption." By the Spirit of God working faith, 
love and repentance, sinful hearts are transformed 



The Tree in the Paradise of God 191 



into the likeness of our Father, and only to those 
who bear this family likeness will the pearly gates 
swing open. 

And we have many plain descriptions of the char- 
acter of those who bear the Father's mark. What a 
faithful picture of the family group we have in the 
beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount ! 

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the 
kingdom of heaven. 

"Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be 
comforted. 

"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the 
earth. 

"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst 
after righteousness, for they shall be filled. 

"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain 
mercy. 

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see 
God. 

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be 
called children of God. 

"Blessed are they which are persecuted for right- 
eousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." 

Do you see your portrait ? Do you bear the fam- 
ily likeness which is so clearly outlined here? Have 
you that lowliness of spirit without which you must 
forever know God afar off? Have you that con- 
trition of sin, that makes you loathe it and flee from 
it unto God ? Have you that meekness which proves 
you a follower of the meek and lowly One? Have 
you that longing after conformity to God's char- 



192 The Rod That Budded 

acter and will that can never be disappointed ? Have 
you that spirit of mercy toward others which you 
hope to have exercised toward yourself ? Have you 
that pureness without which no one can ever see 
God? Have you that peaceable and peacemaking 
spirit which proclaims you to be one of the children 
of the great peacemaker who gave his Son that he 
might make peace by the blood of the cross ? Have 
you that patience under trial which proves you to 
be a follower of him who, when he was reviled, re- 
viled not again? If you find your nature described 
in this perfect transcript of the family likeness, then 
you may know that your name is written in the 
Lamb's book of life as certainly as though you saw 
your own name in the register. 

Such a character is not a product of nature. It 
can be wrought out only by the Spirit of all grace. 
If we are to become partakers of the tree in the 
midst of the paradise of God, we must begin to 
manifest the fruits of the Spirit in the earthly life. 
"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long- 
suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, 
temperance; against such there is no law." The 
predominant color in this picture in which all these 
graces so perfectly blend is love. It stands pre- 
eminently above all the rest. It has been truly said 
that all the other graces are but various manifesta- 
tions of this fundamental grace. Joy is love exult- 
ing. Peace is love at repose. Long-suffering is love 
at school. Gentleness is love at work. Goodness is 
love dispensing blessings. Faith is love victorious. 



The Tree in the Paradise of God 193 

Meekness is love condescending. Temperance is 
love on trial. 

The love which is so pre-eminent a feature in the 
Christian character is not mere natural affection. It 
is not an indigenous growth in our natures. It is an 
exotic. It must be implanted from a far clime. It 
is the "fruit of the Spirit/' for only the Spirit of 
God can produce it in the hearts and lives. When- 
ever we yield ourselves to the power of the Spirit 
of God, we are cultivating the graces which are an 
essential mark of those whose names are written 
in the book of life. 

This love which is the fruit of the Spirit is the 
true badge of discipleship. "By this shall all men 
know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one 
to another." Not by membership in the same con- 
gregation or society. Not by adherence to the 
same creed. Not by claiming descent from the same 
earthly parentage, nor by citizenship in the same 
country, but by unfeigned, self-sacrificing love one 
for another, may we know that we belong to the 
Father's family. This love has its origin in the 
eternal love of God for us. "We love, because he 
first loved us," we rightly read in the Revision. Not 
only is this the source of love to God, but of love also 
to our fellow men. The spring that gushes from the 
mountain base has its source in the eternal snows 
which crown its summit. And the streams of good 
will which flow out to our fellow men have their 
source in the eternal, unchangeable love of God 
manifested through his Son Jesus Christ. 



194 The Rod That Budded 



On the last page of the book of inspiration this 
beatitude is pronounced upon all who wear the 
badge of discipleship, "Blessed are they that do his 
commandments, that they may have a right to the 
tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into 
the city." Through disobedience man lost his right 
to the first tree of life; through the obedience of 
Christ the right to the tree of life in the paradise 
of God was restored. The revisers have given an- 
other, perhaps the corrected, reading: "Blessed are 
they that wash their robes, that they may have right 
to the tree of life/' The thought is essentially the 
same in both. Only those w T hose robes have been 
washed in the blood of the Lamb have a right to the 
tree of life, yet obedience to his commandments is 
the only true test and proof that such washing has 
taken place. Our Lord himself says, "If a man love 
me, he w T ill keep my words." 

The blessedness of those who partake of the fruit 
of the tree in the Paradise above surpasses all de- 
scription and all conception. When persuading our 
first parents to eat of the forbidden fruit he falsely 
assured them that in the day they ate thereof they 
should be as gods. That promise proved to be a 
delusion and a snare. Instead of becoming like 
their Creator through partaking of that fruit, they 
lost the likeness of God which he had stamped upon 
their souls, as well as their standing with God. But 
those who partake of the tree of life shall have re- 
stored to them both the lost standing and the lost 
likeness. The promise, "To him that overcometh 



The Tree in the Paradise of God 195 

will I give to eat of the tree of life in the Paradise 
of God/' is only the first in a blessed series of 
promises, which rise higher and higher in the scale 
of blessedness, until in the last we have the gracious 
assurance: "To him that overcometh will I grant 
to sit with me on my throne, even as I also over- 
came, and am set down with my Father on his 
throne/' Redemption gives back to the redeemed 
more than he lost by the fall. The promise by 
which Satan deluded our first parents, and which 
could not be realized through eating the forbidden 
fruit, shall be more than realized by all who partake 
of the tree of life. "We shall be like him, for we 
shall see him as he is." 

When our Lord was on his last journey to Jerusa- 
lem, there came running to him a rich young ruler 
with the question on his lips, "Good Master, what 
shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?'' Jesus 
beholding this young man loved him, and his love 
prompted this answer, "If thou wilt be perfect, go 
and sell that thou hast and give to the poor, and 
thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come, take 
up the cross and follow me." Four things Jesus 
set before him in this answer — a cross, a career, a 
character and a crown. The cross which he was 
called to bear was complete self-renunciation; for 
only when the soul is entirely surrendered to Jesus 
can the work of salvation be fully carried on. The 
career which he marked out for his feet was thus 
briefly described, "Follow me." As the reward of 
this cross-bearing and following he would receive 



196 The Rod That Budded 

a blessed character — "Thou shalt be perfect." And 
last of all, the crown that fadeth not away. "Thou 
shalt have treasures in heaven." Too often men 
w T ant the crown without the character, or if char- 
acter is necessary, they want it without bearing the 
cross or walking in the career which the Master 
maps out for their feet. This can never be. Heaven 
without the blessed character would not be heaven. 
Salvation without such a character would not be 
salvation. The answer which demands cross-bear- 
ing and walking in the Master's footsteps is the an- 
swer of love. Only to him who overcometh can it 
be given to eat of the tree of life which is in the 
midst of the paradise of God. 

There is one infallible test by which we may know 
whether we are being made meet for the inheritance 
of the saints in light or not. God himself is the chief 
joy and glory of heaven. If we find no joy in his 
presence here, how can we hope to find joy in his 
presence there? But if he is our chief delight now, 
we may know that we will rejoice forever in his 
presence where there is fulness of joy and pleasures 
forevermore. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



THE PLANT OF RENOWN 



"I will raise lip for them a Plant of Renown."— -Ezekiel 
34 : 29. 



HIS is one of the stars of promise which shine 



on the dark night of captivity. Ezekiel him- 



self was a captive on the banks of the Chebar, 
but like the seer of Patmos, his place of exile be- 
came a place of revelation of the gracious purposes 
of the God of Israel. This promise is one of a bril- 
liant cluster of gracious promises. The chapter con- 
tains heavy charges against the shepherds who fed 
themselves but not the flock, who had clothed them- 
selves with their fleece, but had not strengthened 
the diseased, nor healed that which was sick, nor 
bound up that which was broken, nor sought that 
which was lost, but left the flock to wander upon 
mountain and hill. But there is a shepherd who 
seeketh out his flock, and delivers them out of all 
places where they have been scattered in the cloudy 
and dark days. He also promised to cause the 
showers to come down upon the pastures. Then, 
as if the picture of rest and refreshment was not 
complete, he adds, "I will raise up for them a Plant 
of Renown." 




198 The Rod That Budded 



This is one of the figures by which the promised 
Redeemer was presented to the faith of the Old 
Testament believer. This does not mean that he 
would come to work out the promised redemption 
with regal splendor and pomp, dazzling and terri- 
fying the world into subjection and awe. He was 
predicted as a "root out of dry ground, without 
form or comeliness, having no beauty that men 
should desire him." The rod or branch which 
should spring up to perpetuate the glory of Israel 
should spring forth from the house of David when 
it w r as like a tree cut down to its very roots. The 
royal family of David was reduced to a very low 
estate when the promised Redeemer was born. His 
advent was surrounded by most lowly circum- 
stances. His birth could not have been more 
humble. Yet from that very moment his glory 
began to be made manifest. Angels were sent to 
herald the advent and to sing the natal song of the 
great Redeemer. 

The renown of which the prophet speaks did not 
consist in the peculiar majesty of his bodily appear- 
ance. No halo of light announced that he was the 
Son of God. He took his place among other men, 
withholding special manifestations of his power and 
glory until he had reached well into man's estate. 
The very fact that he was so far separated from 
other men in the perfect holiness of his being caused 
both him and his mission to be misunderstood. 
Even among those who stood nearest to him this 
was often true. Down almost to the time of his 



The Plant of Renown 199 

offering up we read, "Neither did his brethren yet 
believe in him." Yet there were those who could 
say, "We beheld his glory, the glory of the only be- 
gotten Son of God, full of grace and truth." And 
the glory which they beheld proved him to be the 
long-expected Plant of Renown. That this glory 
was not perceived by more eyes was not due to its 
uncertain manifestation, but to the blindness of their 
eyes. Only they whose spiritual eyes have been 
opened are able to behold spiritual beauty. 

Jesus is glorious in his Person, being the Eternal 
Son of God, yet our true Brother Man. Nowhere 
in the Gospel narratives are we allowed to lose 
sight of the duality of his natures. Scarcely ever 
have we a striking exhibition of the human limita- 
tions and infirmities with which he surrounded him- 
self, without finding at the same time a correspond- 
ing manifestation of his glory as the Son of God. 
We see him as the helpless babe in the manger; 
that same night the glory of the Lord shone around 
the shepherds and we hear the notes of the angelic 
choir, "Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, 
good will to men." We see him humbling himself 
to receive baptism at the hands of the forerunner; 
the next moment the heavens are opened and a 
voice is heard, "This is my beloved Son in whom 
I am well pleased." We see him sleeping in a 
fisherman's boat, worn out with the toils of the 
day ; the next moment he is speaking to the troubled 
sea, "Peace, be still," and there was a great calm. 
We see him shedding tears of truest sympathy and 



2oo The Rod That Budded 



sorrow as he beholds the ruin wrought by sin; the 
next moment he speaks to the dead with the voice 
of a God, and the dead obeys. We see him in the 
moment of his deepest humiliation, nailed to an ac- 
cursed tree as one unworthy of a place either on 
earth or heaven. Yet in that hour of deepest abase- 
ment he exercised the authority and power of a 
king as he said to the penitent at his side, "To-day 
shalt thou be with me in Paradise/' and in presence 
of the trembling earth, the rending rocks, and the 
cloud-enshrouded sky, even a Roman centurion is 
constrained to say, "Truly this man was the Son 
of God." 

His crowning glory w r as the perfection of his 
moral nature, which on account of this very per- 
fection was not perceived by those who lived on the 
low plane of the ungodly world. The w T orld had 
not eyes to behold and appreciate the beauty of holi- 
ness which was the most conspicuous element of his 
earthly life. Yet this is a beauty which shines with 
ever-increasing brightness after the lapse of cen- 
turies. This moral glory consists in the perfect 
equipoise of his nature, the perfect conformity of 
his will to that of the Father, manifested in every 
word and deed of his life, his first recorded words 
being, "Wist ye not that I must be about my 
Father's business?" and one of his last utterances 
before he went to the cross being, "Nevertheless, 
Father, not as I will, but as thou wilt." 

Then there came, after his anointing for public 
service, the manifestation of glory through his 



The Plant of Renown 201 



mighty works. "This beginning of miracles did 
Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his 
glory." The very circumstances of this miracle dis- 
played the glorious purpose of his mission. It was 
not to dazzle the world with useless exhibitions of 
his mighty power. That power which was never 
exercised to gratify his personal wants, not even to 
create bread after he had fasted forty days, much 
less for a vain display before the eyes of the world, 
was often exercised to relieve the wants of suffering 
humanity. He changed the water into wine in order 
to bring good cheer to a humble household. He so 
multiplied the few loaves and fishes that they be- 
came food for thousands of hungry mouths. Jesus 
was always looking out for the wants of others, and 
then using his power to satisfy those wants. 

Jesus did not come to pour contempt upon, nor 
to crush out, the ordinary feelings of humanity, but 
to sanctify and elevate them. His first miracle was 
performed at a wedding, one of the most joyous 
of all festive occasions. Part of his glory shone 
forth in the fact that he added the joy of his pres- 
ence and power to such an occasion, as truly as he 
turned the sorrow of the funeral into one of re- 
joicing. His presence heightens every proper joy, 
while earth knows no sorrow which his grace cannot 
heal. 

The glory of Christ's nature was not perceived by 
all who looked upon his human form. Only three 
of the twelve were permitted to look upon his glory 
on the mount of transfiguration, concerning which 



202 The Rod That Budded 



one of the three chosen witnesses wrote, "We be- 
held his glory/' Then they began to learn that he 
was the brightness of the Father's glory, the ex- 
press image of his Person. But the multitudes did 
not see his glory. The god of this world had blinded 
their eyes, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of 
Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto 
them. 

To the vast multitude of men Jesus still appears 
as without form or comeliness. They do not realize 
that "being the Mightiest among the holy, and the 
Holiest among the mighty, by his pierced hands he 
has lifted empires off their hinges, turned the stream 
of centuries out of their channel, and still governs 
the ages." But a time is coming when his glory 
shall be revealed in the presence of an assembled 
universe — when he shall come in the glory of the 
Father, and of the holy angels. The last book in 
the inspired canon is properly called, in its opening 
sentence, "The Revelation of Jesus Christ the Son 
of God." It is the revealing, the unveiling of his 
kingly majesty, and dominion, and glory. How 
different the visions of Jesus which John had on 
Patmos from those w T hich he beheld on Calvary 
sixty years before. Then his face was more marred 
than any man's. Now his countenance was as the 
sun shineth in his strength. Then his crown was 
made of thorns — the emblem of the curse of sin. 
Now on his head were many crowns. Then they 
wrote in mock derision and nailed it to his cross 
over his head, "Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the 



The Plant of Renown 203 



Jews." Now he has upon his vesture and upon his 
thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND 
LORD OF LORDS. 

Many names and titles are given to our Lord, but 
there is none so precious to trusting hearts as that 
which was given to him through the word of the 
angel: "Thou shalt call his name JESUS; for he 
shall save his people from their sins." To this we 
may truly apply the words of the inspired song, 
"Thy name is as ointment poured forth." 

"How sweet the name of Jesus sounds 

In a believer's ear; 
It soothes his sorrow, heals his wounds, 
And drives away his fear." 

Upon no name was such ignominy ever heaped 
as upon that which God gave to his Son. It was this 
name that was nailed to the cross in Hebrew, Greek 
and Latin, as if to proclaim to all peoples and 
tongues that he who had claimed to be the world's 
promised Redeemer was now dying as a malefactor. 
From being one of the most honored names among 
the Jews it became a term of reproach when for the 
time there seemed to be "none so poor as to do him 
reverence." Yet the very name which men so de- 
spised and dishonored is the one on which above all 
others God has bestowed the more abundant honor. 
Since he humbled himself, and became obedient unto 
death, even the death of the cross, "God also hath 
highly exalted him, and given him a name above 
every name, that at the name of JESUS every knee 



204 The Rod That Budded 



should bow, of things <in heaven, and things in 
earth, and things under the earth, and that every 
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, 
to the glory of God the Father." 

For years the name of Joseph was obscured and 
despised, but there came a time when no name in 
Egypt carried with it a greater power, for the king's 
decree has gone forth that every knee should bow 
before him. And as the years of plenty went by and 
years of famine came, the people learned to love and 
honor that name, because he had been the means of 
saving life. His own brothers once hated and de- 
spised it, but there came a time when the simple 
utterance, "I am Joseph,'' struck them dumb in his 
presence, for now they realized that he whom they 
plotted to kill and afterward sold as a slave had been 
exalted to great power, and that he had the issues 
of their lives in his hands. Saul of Tarsus despised 
the name of Jesus of Nazareth, and with utmost 
vehemence dragged to prison and to death those who 
called themselves by that hated name. But Saul was 
smitten to the ground in utmost confusion when he 
heard a voice speaking out of the incomparable 
brightness, "I am Jesus whom thou persecutest." 
When he came to know him whom he had so bit- 
terly opposed, there was no name that had so sweet 
a charm for his ears as that which had carried such 
terror to his soul on the wayside near Damascus. 

When Amaziah, king of Judah, was commanded 
by the man of God to dismiss the army of Israel 
which he had hired to help fight his battles, be- 



The Plant of Renown 205 



cause this alliance was displeasing to God, the king 
replied, "But what shall we do for the hundred 
talents which I have given to the army of Israel?" 
To this the man of God replied, "The Lord is able 
to give thee much more than this." So has it al- 
ways been among the servants of God. For every 
self-denial, service or suffering endured for his sake, 
he is able to bestow much more than they have 
sacrificed for his name. We see this in the life of 
a Joseph, of a Moses, of a Daniel, of a Paul. Is it 
too much to say that we see it even in the life of our 
Lord Jesus ? He stands through the ages the great- 
est example of self-sacrifice the world has ever 
known. No one ever humbled himself so far as he, 
when he came to seek and to save that which was 
lost. It may be said that no reward can ever com- 
pensate him for what he has endured on our behalf. 
Yet we have this testimony, "He shall see of the 
travail of his soul and shall be satisfied." In pro- 
portion to the depth of his humiliation has been the 
exaltation with which the Father has honored him. 
And more precious to him than personal honors is 
the joy of saving that which was lost, of causing the 
multitude of the redeemed to share with him in the 
glory and blessedness of his eternal kingdom. 

No such revenue of glory has ever come to the 
name of God as that which springs from the work 
of redemption through Jesus Christ. There is a 
profound meaning in the song of the angels sung 
over the fields of Bethlehem, "Glory to God in the 
highest." Do not these words mean not only that 



2o6 The Rod That Budded 



God is higher than all his works, but also that the 
purpose of the salvation which Jesus came to work 
out would be to the glory of God, the very highest 
glory he had ever received ? Not only did the angels 
sing praise to God in the highest, but they also sang 
glory in the highest. They were not ignorant of 
the glory which belongs to God because of his work 
of creation. Looking up from these fields of Beth- 
lehem David sang, "The heavens declare the glory 
of God, the firmament showeth his handiwork." 
But how small a part of his works David had ob- 
served compared with what these angels had looked 
upon! In their flight from the throne they had 
passed millions of suns and stars, a perfect blaze of 
glory. Yet there was to come a greater glory than 
that of creation, the glory that would come through 
the redemption of a lost world. The angels were 
also familiar with the story of God's providence. 
Often had they been the agents in the execution of 
his righteous judgments. Well did they know that 
the providence of God had brought glory to his 
name. Yet there was a higher glory to follow — the 
glory of redemption. 

There are flowers which reflect one or more of 
the elemental colors, and they are beautiful. But 
the rainbow reflects all the colors and therefore is 
surpassingly beautiful. The work of creation dis- 
plays the wisdom, power and goodness of the Crea- 
tor. The works of providence display his omnis- 
cience, his omnipotence and the justness of all his 
ways. But salvation displays all the attributes of 



The Plant of Renown 207 

his perfection— his wisdom, power, holiness, justice, 
goodness and truth, with mercy and love predomi- 
nating over all. This is glory in the highest. 

Long before he whom the world regards as a root 
out of dry ground made his advent, a prophet wrote, 
"But, thou Bethlehem, though thou be little among 
the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shalt he 
come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel 
. . . and he shall stand and feed in the strength of 
the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord 
his God; and they shall abide; for now shall he be 
great unto the ends of the earth." This prediction 
has been in measure already fulfilled. There is no 
name so mighty to-day as the name of Jesus. There 
are no spots on earth to which so many hearts turn 
as Bethlehem and Calvary, places which witnessed 
the coming and the dying of our Lord. We have 
proofs of the power of his name in the fact that all 
around this globe men are writing Anno Domini 
1903 — "In the year of the Lord" — a tacit acknowl- 
edgment of his universal power. The boast of the 
British subject is that King Edward VII. sways a 
sceptre over a dominion on which the sun never 
sets. We Americans are beginning to make the 
same boast concerning the territory over which float 
Stars and Stripes. This is absolutely true of the 
dominion of King Jesus. His standard is being car- 
ried to all lands, and every year the number of those 
who render him true allegiance is growing greater. 
"He shall be great unto the ends of earth." 

What are we doing to help extend his kingdom ? 



2o8 The Rod That Budded 



His name is to be glorious to the end of the earth ; 
what are we doing to extend the knowledge of it? 
When Gideon had chosen his three hundred he 
placed in the hand of each a pitcher, a lamp and a 
trumpet. At the proper time each man was to break 
the pitcher, which up to this time had made a dark 
lantern of his torch, and to let his light blaze forth. 
And the command to every follower of Jesus is, 
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may 
see your good works and glorify your Father who is 
in heaven/' Too long have we hid our candle under 
the bushel of absorption in worldly business, or 
under the bed of slothful indifference. It is now 
high time to tear away the obstruction and let our 
light shine. Gideon's three hundred were also to 
blow with the trumpets and shout, "The sword of 
the Lord and of Gideon." Let us sound forth the 
praises of our glorious Leader and go forth to 
valiant service in his name. His name is to be 
great unto the ends of the earth. Let us help to 
make it known. 

Other names have filled the earth with renown 
for a time, but they fade away like the morning star 
before the rising sun. The name of a Napoleon once 
filled Europe with alarm, but the time came when 
he was a helpless prisoner, fretting and chafing his 
life away like a caged lion, within the narrow limits 
of his prison home. In the solitude of those last 
days on St. Helena, Napoleon paid this tribute to 
him whose name has been exalted above every 
name: 



The Plant of Renown 209 



"Can you tell me who Jesus Christ was ?" he sud- 
denly said one day to one of his suite. 

The officer replied that he had not given much 
thought to the subject. 

"Well, then, I will tell you," replied the hero of 
a hundred battles. "I think I understand something 
of human nature, and I tell you that the great men 
of the past were all men, and I am a man, but not 
one of them is like him. Jesus Christ was more 
than a man. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and 
myself founded great empires; but upon what did 
the creation of our genius depend? Upon force! 
Jesus alone founded his empire upon love, and to 
this very day millions would die for him. Men 
wonder at the conquests of Alexander, but there is 
a conqueror who draws men to himself for their 
highest good; who unites to himself, incorporates 
into himself not a nation, but the whole human race. 
... I defy you to cite another life like that of Jesus 
Christ !" 

This is the name that is above every name. 

Men usually prize their possessions in proportion 
to what they have cost them. Churches and coun- 
tries which have paid most dearly for their liberties 
place a high estimate on their inheritance and guard 
it most zealously. We may suppose that of all the 
lambs in his father's flock there were none so dear 
to David as those which he had rescued from the 
lion and the bear at the risk of his own life. And 
among all the worlds in the measureless universe of 
God, may we not suppose that there is not one so 



2 to The Rod That Budded 



dear to him as the one on which we live? That brave 
Christian hero, Gen. O. O. Howard, pleads earnestly 
for testaments and tracts to be sent to the Philip- 
pines, and one needs not listen long to perceive that 
the people of those islands have a stronger hold upon 
his heart because their soil has drunk the blood of 
his soldier boy. And the Father in heaven can 
never forget that this earth was watered by the tears 
and blood of his only and well-beloved Son. 

"O Earth ! thou grain of sand on the shore of the 
universe of God, thou Bethlehem among the princely 
cities of the heavens; thou art and remainest the 
Loved One among ten thousand suns and worlds, 
the chosen of God. Thee will he visit again, and 
then thou wilt prepare a throne for him, as thou 
gavest him a manger cradle. In his radiant glory 
wilt thou rejoice, as thou didst once drink his blood 
and tears and mourn his death." * 

Then will he appear, no longer as a root out of 
dry ground, but as a glorious Plant of Renown. 



*Pressel. 



THE END. 



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" ' Soul winning Stories ' is another point of contact for the 
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Rev. Dr. William F. Warren, President of Boston University, 
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" 1 Soul Winning Stories ' is a volume of fascinating interest 
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Rev. Dr. C. C. Bragdon, President of La Salle Seminary, 
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Rev. Dr. John Balcom Shaw, the Evangelistic Pastor of the 
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A copy of "Soul Winning Stories " will be sent, postpaid, upon 
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